Exploring the Victimization of British Veterans: Comparing British Beliefs About Veterans With Beliefs About Soldiers
Abstract: Evidence suggests that most of the UK public appreciate currently serving UK Armed Forces personnel but are less positive in their beliefs about veterans. This research examined the social representations held by civilian participants of UK veterans and serving soldiers to understand why veterans may be seen more negatively. An open-ended word-association task was completed by 234 UK participants where they were asked to provide three initial responses to the words ‘Veteran’ and ‘Soldier’ and to evaluate their responses in accordance to prototypicality. The 1404 resultant associations were grouped into 14 thematic clusters. Using the Hierarchical Evocation Method, the results suggest ‘Heroizing Associations’ to be a defining core-element for ‘Soldier’ and ‘Veteran’ but ‘Victimizing Associations’ to be an element only for ‘Veteran’. Principal Component Analyses suggest ‘Victimizing Associations’ are related to war and deindividuated associations; ‘Heroizing Associations’ are related to characterizations of the veteran’s personality. Implications and future directions are discussed.
Abstract: Background: Exposure to potentially morally injurious events (PMIEs) during military service can lead to moral injury (MI) outcomes and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). This longitudinal study examined the relationships between PMIE exposure, MI outcomes, and PTSS among Israeli combat veterans, and the potential protective role of dispositional forgiveness in these associations. Method: Participants were 169 Israeli combat veterans who participated in a six-year longitudinal study with four measurement points (T1: 12 months before enlistment, T2: Six months following enlistment- pre-deployment, T3: 18 months following enlistment- post-deployment, and T4: 28 months following discharge). Participants’ characteristics were assessed via semi-structured interviews (T1) and validated self-report measures (T2-T4) between 2019-2024. Results: Approximately 36% of participants reported exposure to PMIEs during service, with 13% exceeding the clinical threshold for probable PTSD at T4. PMIE-Betrayal at T3 was positively associated with MI outcomes of shame and trust violation at T4. The indirect effect of PMIEs on PTSS through MI outcome-Shame depended on forgiveness levels. Among veterans with low forgiveness, higher exposure to PMIE-Betrayal was associated with increased MI shame, which was linked to more severe PTSS. Conversely, for those with high forgiveness, exposure to PMIE-Self and Other was associated with decreased MI shame and subsequently reduced PTSS. Conclusion: Dispositional forgiveness moderates the relationship between PMIE exposure and MI outcomes, particularly shame, which mediates the development of PTSS. These findings highlight forgiveness as a potential target for intervention in treating moral injury and preventing PTSS among combat veterans.