TY - JOUR
T1 - Killing in Combat as a Potentially Morally Injurious Event
T2 - The Diverging Psychological Impact of Killing on Peacekeepers and Combat-Oriented Troops
AU - Nordstrand, Andreas Espetvedt
AU - Noll, Laura K.
AU - Huffman, Ann Hergatt
AU - Gjerstad, Christer Lunde
AU - Tveitstul, Tore
AU - Reichelt, Jon Gerhard
AU - Bakker, Lars Petter
AU - Kennair, Leif Edward Ottesen
AU - Kristoffersen, Ronny Helmersen
AU - Bøe, Hans Jakob
AU - Wickham, Robert E.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2025. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
PY - 2026/7
Y1 - 2026/7
N2 - The impact of killing in combat (KIC) on veterans’ long-term psychological health is multifaceted and influenced by deployment contexts. This study compared two samples of Norwegian veterans from combat-oriented (Afghanistan 2001–2011, N = 4,053) and peacekeeping (Lebanon 1978–1998, N = 10,605) missions to examine how personal threats, witnessing death/injury, and KIC uniquely predicted long-term mental health, alcohol use, and quality of life (QoL). In the combat-oriented sample, personal threats and witnessing death/injury predicted negative outcomes, while KIC did not. Among peacekeepers, personal threats, witnessing death/injury, and KIC independently predicted posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, alcohol use, insomnia, and lower QoL. These findings reveal diverging effects of KIC on veterans from combat-oriented and peacekeeping missions, respectively, suggesting that the impact of potentially morally injurious events like KIC is shaped by mission-specific contextual factors.
AB - The impact of killing in combat (KIC) on veterans’ long-term psychological health is multifaceted and influenced by deployment contexts. This study compared two samples of Norwegian veterans from combat-oriented (Afghanistan 2001–2011, N = 4,053) and peacekeeping (Lebanon 1978–1998, N = 10,605) missions to examine how personal threats, witnessing death/injury, and KIC uniquely predicted long-term mental health, alcohol use, and quality of life (QoL). In the combat-oriented sample, personal threats and witnessing death/injury predicted negative outcomes, while KIC did not. Among peacekeepers, personal threats, witnessing death/injury, and KIC independently predicted posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, alcohol use, insomnia, and lower QoL. These findings reveal diverging effects of KIC on veterans from combat-oriented and peacekeeping missions, respectively, suggesting that the impact of potentially morally injurious events like KIC is shaped by mission-specific contextual factors.
KW - PTSD
KW - combat
KW - killing
KW - moral injury
KW - peacekeeping
KW - trauma
KW - veterans
KW - violence
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105000828859
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105000828859#tab=citedBy
U2 - 10.1177/0095327X251321389
DO - 10.1177/0095327X251321389
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:105000828859
SN - 0095-327X
VL - 52
SP - 904
EP - 934
JO - Armed Forces and Society
JF - Armed Forces and Society
IS - 3
ER -