RESEARCH NOTE Effects of Hardiness and Years of Military Service on Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms in U.S. Army Medics Barbara L. Pitts and Martin A. Safer Catholic University of America Dale W. Russell Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Paula L. Castro-Chapman James A. Haley Veterans Hospital, Tampa, Florida, and Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida We examined the effects of hardiness on symptoms of posttraumatic stress (PTS) in postdeployed U.S. Army medics (N = 322). Medics endure a high level of work-related stress on and off the battlefield. Hardiness correlated negatively with reports of PTS symptoms and moderated the cumulative effects of years of military service on PTS symptoms. After controlling for socially desirable responding, PTS symptoms in- creased with years of military service for those with low levels of hardiness and decreased with years of military service for those with very high levels of hardiness. The military’s current resiliency training programs would likely benefit from incorpo- rating hardiness measures and principles into its curriculum. Keywords: PTSD, hardiness, years of military service, medics, health care specialists Military veterans are more likely than those without military experience to suffer from both physical and behavioral health problems (O’Toole, Catts, Outram, Pierse, & Cockburn, 2009). Psychological hardiness, a personality factor that describes individual differences in commitment, control, and challenge (Kobasa, 1979), may serve to protect some service mem- bers from physical and behavioral health prob- lems. Indeed, Escolas, Pitts, Safer, and Bartone (2013) found a positive relationship between years of military service and posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms only among those who self-reported hardiness. The present note inves- tigates whether hardiness similarly moderates the effects of years of military service on PTS symptoms in a sample of U.S. Army medics. U.S. Army medics provide medical support to their units both in garrison and when de- ployed. Medics in garrison are assigned to clin- This article was published Online First May 12, 2016. Barbara L. Pitts and Martin A. Safer, Department of Psychology, Catholic University of America; Dale W. Rus- sell, Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences; Paula L. Cas- tro-Chapman, Research Service, James A. Haley Veterans Hospital, Tampa, Florida, and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Morsani College of Medi- cine, University of South Florida. The authors acknowledge the contribution of LTC David Cabrera, the original principal investigator of the Soldier Medic Mettle Study, who was killed in action in Kabul, Afghanistan, on October 29, 2011. This study was funded by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Com- mand and approved by the Catholic University of America and Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences institutional review boards. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of the U.S. government, the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, or the University of South Florida. This material is the result of work supported with resources and the use of facilities at the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital. Correspondence concerning this article should be ad- dressed to Dale W. Russell, Center for the Study of Trau- matic Stress, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, 4301 Jones Bridge Road, Bethesda, MD 20814. E-mail: dale.russell@usuhs.mil THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CORRECTED. SEE LAST PAGE This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly. Military Psychology © 2016 American Psychological Association 2016, Vol. 28, No. 4, 278 –284 0899-5605/16/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/mil0000106 278