The War Within: Perceived Legitimacy and Psychological Trauma Among Post-9/11 Veterans
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Since the start of the Global War on Terror, over four times as many U.S. soldiers deployed in the conflicts have died by suicide than have been killed in action. Recent studies have established an association between veteran suicide and moral injury (MI), a type of psychological trauma rooted in “perpetrating, failing to prevent, bearing witness to, or learning about acts that transgress deeply held moral beliefs and expectations.” This thesis examines the moral injury element of service member suicide in the wake of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, seeking to understand whether veterans’ perception of the legitimacy of war they fought within is related to their sense of moral transgression for participating in that conflict. This study surveyed 54 anonymous U.S. veterans who served in Iraq and/or Afghanistan. I find significant correlation between moral injury and suicidality among participants. The analysis also shows that veterans with lower perceptions of the legitimacy of the conflict(s) they served in tend to have higher scores for moral injury. Finally, I find that perceived legitimacy also acts as a negative moderator on the relationship between MI and suicidality, meaning that the relationship between suicidality and moral injury is stronger when the legitimacy score is lower. These findings empirically support the hypothesis that service members’ mental health is related to their perception of war legitimacy. Through analysis of existing research and interviews with U.S. veterans, this thesis also examines emerging evidence of a causal chain underlying this relationship, indicating that when troops’ experiences in war result in a lessened view of the legitimacy of the conflict, they may be at risk of losing some of the sense of purpose that they had formerly associated with their service. Additionally, I find that political events can impact mental health in the military community by altering perceptions of conflict legitimacy even after one’s service has concluded.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Publication date | July 19, 2023 |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Sewell, Tia |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor | Winslow, Dean |
Subjects
| Subject | War |
|---|---|
| Subject | Veterans |
| Subject | Iraq War (2003-2011) |
| Subject | Afghan War (2001-2021) |
| Subject | War on Terrorism (2001-) |
| Subject | Nation-building |
| Subject | Mental health |
| Subject | Suicide |
| Subject | Moral injuries |
| Subject | Soldiers |
| Subject | Military policy |
| Subject | Counterinsurgency |
| Subject | Veterans > Medical care |
| Subject | Just war doctrine |
| Genre | Text |
| Genre | Thesis |
Bibliographic information
Access conditions
- Use and reproduction
- User agrees that, where applicable, content will not be used to identify or to otherwise infringe the privacy or confidentiality rights of individuals. Content distributed via the Stanford Digital Repository may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor.
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY).
Preferred citation
- Preferred citation
- Sewell, T. (2023). The War Within: Perceived Legitimacy and Psychological Trauma Among Post-9/11 Veterans. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at https://purl.stanford.edu/bn329tx7190. https://doi.org/10.25740/bn329tx7190.
Collection
Stanford University, Center for International Security and Cooperation, Interschool Honors Program in International Security Studies, Theses
View other items in this collection in SearchWorksContact information
- Contact
- tiasewell@stanford.edu
Also listed in
Loading usage metrics...