Wounded worldviews : A terror management perspective on combat veterans

Abstract

Previous research has demonstrated that individuals that have experienced trauma respond atypically to reminders of mortality. The present research tested the hypothesis that United States military veterans would respond atypically to reminders of mortality. In the experiment, 315 college students and 78 military veterans wrote a short essay describing the emotions that the thought of their own death aroused in them. Each participant then completed a word fragment task designed to measure death thought accessibility (DTA). The results revealed several findings. Veterans respond immediately to MS, and do not require a delay as with civilians. Veterans return to baseline levels of DTA quickly following MS which is also different from previous research with civilians. Additionally, veterans with high levels of combat exposure show an immediate increase in DTA, while veterans with low levels of combat experience show an immediate decrease in DTA. The implications of these findings are discussed.