Psychospiritual Developmental Risk Factors for Moral Injury

There is increasing theoretical, clinical, and empirical support for the hypothesis that psychospiritual development, and more specifically, postconventional religious reasoning, may be related to moral injury. In this study, we assessed the contributions of exposure to potentially morally injurious...

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Authors: Usset, Timothy J. (Author) ; Currier, Joseph M. (Author) ; Gray, Erika (Author) ; Griffin, Brandon J. (Author) ; Harris, J. Irene (Author) ; Kopacz, Marek S. (Author) ; Wilhelm, John H. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: MDPI [2020]
In: Religions
Year: 2020, Volume: 11, Issue: 10
Further subjects:B PTSD
B Spirituality
B Religious functioning
B psychospiritual development
B Moral Distress
B Moral Injury
B spiritual distress
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
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Summary:There is increasing theoretical, clinical, and empirical support for the hypothesis that psychospiritual development, and more specifically, postconventional religious reasoning, may be related to moral injury. In this study, we assessed the contributions of exposure to potentially morally injurious events, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and psychospiritual development to moral injury symptoms in a sample of military veterans (N = 212). Psychospiritual development was measured as four dimensions, based on Wulff’s theory juxtaposing conventional vs. postconventional levels of religious reasoning, with decisions to be an adherent or a disaffiliate of faith. After controlling for exposure to potentially morally injurious events and severity of posttraumatic stress symptoms, veterans who were conventional disaffiliates reported higher scores on the Moral Injury Questionnaire than conventional adherents, postconventional adherents, or postconventional disaffiliates. We conclude that the role of psychospiritual development offers a theoretical approach to moral injury that invites collaboration between social scientists, philosophers, theologians, and medical professionals.
ISSN:2077-1444
Contains:Enthalten in: Religions
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.3390/rel11100484