STRESS AND MENTAL HEALTH STATUS ASSOCIATED WITH PEACEKEEPING DUTY FOR NEW ZEALAND DEFENCE FORCE PERSONNEL CAROL MACDONALD 1 , KERRY CHAMBERLAIN 2 *, NIGEL LONG 2 AND KATE MIRFIN 3 1 The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand, Lower Hutt, New Zealand 2 School of Psychology, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand 3 New Zealand Army, Wellington, New Zealand SUMMARY This article presents ®ndings from a longitudinal study investigating the psychological impact of peacekeeping duties on 277 New Zealand Defence Force personnel. Mental health and stressor experience data are presented for four stages of deployment from prior to the deployment to approximately 6 months after service personnel returned to New Zealand. The ®ndings of this study support previous research which shows that while the incidence of reported psychiatric disorders is very low among peacekeeping personnel, peacekeeping duty does impact upon the mental health status of the personnel involved. For the peacekeepers in this study the most stressful periods appeared to be the preparation and follow-up stages of the deployment. The personnel reported higher anxiety, psychological distress and deployment-related hassles prior to departure, and higher anxiety, psychological distress and lower positive psychological well-being several months after their return to New Zealand. The results also showed that the most important predictor of the overall mental health status of these personnel, across all four stages, was level of current stress. Copyright # 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. KEY WORDS Ð peacekeeping; military personnel; stress; mental health Since the end of World War II, over 50 countries have responded to requests from the United Nations (UN) to contribute military personnel and resources to peacekeeping, observation and peace enforcement roles in international trouble- spots. Although UN forces have traditionally undertaken humanitarian roles and are not usually engaged in active combat, the nature of the con¯ict may nevertheless be highly distressing for many soldiers. Events which peacekeepers have pre- viously reported as particularly distressing include witnessing atrocities and torture, the retrieval and disposal of human remains 1,2 and the inability to intervene brought about by the restrictive rules of engagement. 3 Stressors need not be violent or traumatic, however. A constant problem in some missions is monotony and boredom, and personnel encounter diculties when working with other nationalities within coalition forces. 4±6 Separation from family is a common source of stress, which may be intens- i®ed by uncertainty about return dates, poor communication home and a belief that `back home' the stress which peacekeepers experience goes unrecognized. 2,5 While most reports of peacekeeping missions have been descriptive accounts, there have been a handful of systematic studies. Studies of Swedish UN personnel working in South Lebanon and Cyprus suggest that despite reporting an increase in alcohol consumption and intensi®ed feelings of homesickness, monotony, boredom and irrita- bility, few personnel developed psychological problems or psychosomatic complaints. 4,7,8 The studies did show, however, that personnel who were repatriated, and those with a high consumption of alcohol, were at risk of developing psychosocial or psychiatric disorders with a delayed onset. 4,7,8 In a study of Norwegian soldiers serving in Lebanon, approximately 5 percent were classi®ed as potential psychiatric `cases'. 9 Risk factors for CCC 0748±8386/99/040235±07$17.50 Received 29 June 1998 Copyright # 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Accepted 15 September 1998 STRESS MEDICINE Stress Med. 15, 235±241 (1999) *Correspondence to: Kerry Chamberlain, School of Psy- chology, Massey University, Private Bag 11-222, Palmerston North, New Zealand. Tel: 64 6 350 4123; Fax: 64 6 350 5673; Email: K.Chamberlain@massey.ac.nz