Developing a Causal Model of Life Satisfaction of Veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Based on Loneliness: The Mediating Role of Perceived Social Support

Post-traumatic stress disorder in veterans is associated with low levels of life satisfaction.

Therefore, the present study aimed to develop a causal model of life satisfaction of veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder based on loneliness with a mediating role of perceived social support.

The method of the present study is a descriptive and structural equation model. The statistical population of this study consisted of all veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder admitted to Isar Psychiatric Hospital in Ardabil in 2020. A total of 200 veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder were selected by the Convenience sampling method. The researcher used somescales (including Diener et al.’s Life Satisfaction Scale (1985), Russell et al.’s Loneliness Scale (1980) and Zimet et al.’s Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (1988)) to collect data, then analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) by SPSS-23 and Lisrel 8.8.

Results confirmed the causal model of the relationship among loneliness, perceived social support and life satisfaction in veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder based on various fitting indicators. Loneliness and perceived social support directly affect the life satisfaction of veterans with stress disorder; Also, loneliness through perceived social support has an indirect impact on the life satisfaction of veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (P<0.05).

Perceived social support plays a vital role in life satisfaction of veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. Psychological therapies of these two components can affect improving the life satisfaction of veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.