Identify Coping Mechanisms to Deal with Stressors in Military Personnel

The military personnel face many stressors. This study aimed to identify coping mechanisms in the face of stressors in military personnel.

This is a cross-sectional study and the sample was 384 of staffs affiliated to Iranian Navy Force, who were selected by cluster random sampling. Data collection tools were demographic questionnaire, a military stressors questionnaire developed by Azad Marzabadi and Lazarus-Folkman's coping mechanisms questionnaire. Stressors were evaluated in six areas (factors related to the region of workplace, social, occupational, personal, familial and military-related factors) and coping mechanisms in eight subscales including; confronting coping, distancing, self-controlling, seeking social support, accepting responsibility, escape-avoidance, planful problem solving, and positive reappraisal.

Among the stressors, the highest level of stress was related to the military with an average of 17.95. The most common coping mechanism was positive reappraisal with an average of 10.65. The mean use of problem-oriented mechanisms was significantly higher than emotion-driven mechanisms (P<0.001). There was a direct and positive relationship between most stressors factors and emotion-driven mechanisms and negative and reverse relationship with problem-oriented mechanisms.

The study found that participants were more likely to use problem-oriented mechanisms in coping with stressors. However, it is necessary to take appropriate measures to reduce the use of emotion-based solutions and also to strengthen the use of problem-oriented coping mechanisms.