The Relationship between Resiliency and Practice of Religious Beliefs with Anxiety and Depression among Soldiers

Investigations generally show that military employees may be more exposed to mental trauma than civilians. This study aimed to recognize the relationship between resiliency and the practice of religious beliefs with the anxiety and depression among soldiers.
This is a correlation study including all military service soldiers (18─29 years old) with at least a diploma degree who were in military service in spring and summer of 2014, in Qom city, Iran. These soldiers were selected by cluster random sampling. Questionnaires for anxiety, practice of religious beliefs, Connor and Davidson resiliency (CD-RISk) and Beck's depression test, were completed by soldiers. Data were analyzed by SPSS 16.
The mean±SD age of the 215 soldiers included in the study was 21.6±2.5 years old. An indirect relationship between resiliency and practice of religious beliefs, with anxiety and depression in soldiers was observed. In soldiers, by reducing one unit in resiliency, anxiety increased by 0.386. By increasing a unit in resiliency, depression decreased by 0.375. Conversely, by increasing a unit in the practice of religious beliefs, depression decreased by 0.108 and by reducing one unit in practice of religious beliefs, the anxiety increased by 0.278.
This findings showed that resiliency and practice of religious beliefs has a major role in reducing anxiety and depression in soldiers. The effectiveness of religious beliefs and resiliency on mental health of soldiers should be addressed in practices of the military