Resilience to Traumatic Exposure Among Soldiers Deployed in Combat John M. Schaubroeck Michigan State University Laura T. Riolli California State University—Sacramento Ann Chunyan Peng Michigan State University Everett S. Spain United States Army, Schweinfurt, Germany We examined the influence of positive psychological capital (PsyCap), a metaconstruct that combines established psychological predispositions to be resilient to stress, on the well-being of soldiers during combat deployment. Among U.S. Army personnel deployed in Iraq, cognitive appraisal of stress mediated the effects of trait PsyCap on health symptoms. The indirect effects through appraisal were moderated by levels of exposure to potentially traumatic stimuli. Trait PsyCap covaried more strongly with cognitive appraisals, and had stronger indirect effects through appraisal on health, among soldiers in units with higher levels of potentially traumatic exposures. We discuss implications for research on resilience to trauma in the workplace and for helping workers cope with potentially traumatic exposures. Keywords: work demands, stress appraisal, health, trauma, personality Persons in various occupations such as military personnel, police officers, and firefighters are ex- posed to extremely stressful situations as a part of their everyday duties (Anshel, 2000; Day & Living- stone, 2001). For military personnel specifically, long periods of isolation, fears about physical safety dur- ing combat, a heightened state of physiological arousal, the burden of responsibilities for others’ safety, and other military tasks can intensify per- ceived stress. The recent service of American mili- tary personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan provides a case in point. More than 15% of service members returning from Iraq and 11% of service members returning from Afghanistan have met the screening criteria for major depression, generalized anxiety, or posttraumatic stress disorder (Hoge et al., 2004; Hoge, Terhakopian, Castro, Messer, & Engel, 2007). According to the positive psychology literature, some individuals are unable to curb the psychological impact of traumatic stressors and they suffer signif- icant physical and psychological health symptoms (see Agaibi & Wilson, 2005, for a review). Others have the capacity to rebound and experience little or no change in their functioning. These latter individ- uals are suggested to demonstrate psychological re- siliency; that is, effective adaptation and coping in the face of adversity (Tugade & Fredrickson, 2004). Resilient individuals are seen to appraise stressful situations as being less threatening (Lazarus, 1993). One important research question, then, concerns identifying factors that distinguish those who cope more effectively with stressful events. Previous re- search has shown that individual differences in resil- ient aspects of personality, such as dispositional op- timism, are favorably associated with health in both longitudinal studies of normal populations (e.g., Lai, 2009; Scheier & Carver, 1992) and cross-sectional studies of different persons’ responses to a common stressful situation such as bereavement or social up- heaval (Riolli, Savicki, & Cepani, 2002; Rossi, Bis- conti, & Bergeman, 2007). However, the mecha- nisms behind these effects of resilient personality traits (e.g., more adaptive cognitive appraisal) have not been fully understood, nor have researchers tested the strength of their influence on health symptoms across different levels of independently assessed en- vironmental exposures. This study examines the cross-level interaction between combat-related expo- sures and traits associated with a more stress-resilient John M. Schaubroeck, Department of Psychology and Eli Broad Graduate School of Management, Michigan State Uni- versity; Laura T. Riolli, California State University- Sacra- mento; Ann Chunyan Peng, Michigan State University; and Everett S. Spain, United States Army, Schweinfurt, Germany. Correspondence concerning this article should be ad- dressed to John M. Schaubroeck, Michigan State Univer- sity, Department of Psychology, Psychology Building, East Lansing, MI 48824-1117. E-mail: Schaubro@msu.edu Journal of Occupational Health Psychology 2011, Vol. 16, No. 1, 18 –37 © 2011 American Psychological Association 1076-8998/11/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0021006 18