Approximately one-third of Canadian Veterans live with chronic pain, which can profoundly disrupt identity as they transition to civilian life. Little is known about how chronic pain reshapes the moral and embodied dimensions of military identity. Using narrative inquiry, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 Canadian Veterans with chronic pain. Data were analyzed through iterative thematic analysis, guided by concepts of biographical disruption, biographical work, continuity/flow, and anchored biographies. Chronic pain functioned as both an embodied and institutional disruption that fractured military identities. Veterans described pain as a biographical rupture but engaged in biographical work to repair coherence and reclaim dignity. Being categorized as disabled was described as a moment that fundamentally challenged identity, built on strength and endurance. For these Veterans, chronic pain transformed, rather than erased, their military identity. Veteran-centered care should integrate moral and institutional dimensions while supporting meaning-making and re-anchoring of self beyond service.
This study examined relations between psychological capital, subjective well-being, and anxiety among students during the Israeli national crisis following the events of October 7, 2023. The sample comprised 310 students, including evacuated ( n = 147) and non-evacuated participants ( n = 163). We found that the psychological capital was positively associated with subjective well-being and negatively associated with anxiety, while subjective well-being mediated this relationship. Evacuation status moderated the psychological capital–subjective well-being link, with stronger effects observed among evacuated students. Non-evacuated students exhibited higher psychological capital and subjective well-being and lower anxiety than their evacuated peers, underscoring the psychological toll of displacement. The findings confirm the psychological capital’s role as a protective resource and the role of subjective well-being as a mediator, translating internal strengths into emotional stability. The study contributes to the military-and-society literature by examining how a large-scale armed conflict and the resulting civilian evacuation shape psychological adaptation among young adults.
Conscription-based militaries in countries facing demographic decline increasingly outsource support functions to civilian contractors, raising the question of whether users who rotate out within 18 months can credibly monitor contractor performance. This research note examines that question in the Republic of Korea Army through two 2025 studies of laundry, equipment maintenance, and waste disposal: a survey of 361 conscripts and an Analytic Hierarchy Process and Weighted Product evaluation of 154 officers. Drawing on principal-agent theory, we find that while the monitoring channel works on the evaluation side, it is obstructed in two ways: Most users in implementation units are unaware that services have been outsourced, and officers’ most valued criteria, particularly wartime operational support, remain structurally unobservable to users. Contracts in conscription-based outsourcing should therefore match monitoring mechanisms to the observability of each criterion, rather than relying on user feedback as a uniform information channel.
Research to date shows the impact of military life on spouses, neglecting those without children. 245 British Army wives completed a survey, with 10 completing an interview, investigating the impact of Army life on well-being, coping mechanisms and support for wives with and without children. All Army wives had low well-being at least in part due to being an Army spouse and Army Culture. Negative associations with avoidance coping mechanisms and well-being were observed, with wives without children using fewer coping mechanisms. Informally, the military community is important, with issues in support from family and civilian friends. Formally, British Army support is scarce, with Senior Officers lacking training. The theoretical model showed that most coping strategies used were unable to overcome the stressors of Army life for all. These findings highlight the need for better support systems for Army families by the British Army, as well as increased support for self-coping.
