Psychol Trauma. 2026 Mar 16. doi: 10.1037/tra0002150. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Moral injury correlates significantly with posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and suicide, affecting soldiers’ combat effectiveness and well-being. Despite growing awareness, it is an emerging research area, mainly studied in Western military cohorts. In China, research on its mechanisms and influencing factors in the unique social-cultural context is scarce. Retired college soldiers are crucial, being high-quality military reserves and national defense educators. Their moral injury during service impacts postretirement adaptation and college conscription. Thus, exploring the internal mechanism of moral injury in this group has great academic and practical significance.
METHOD: A multifaceted sampling approach, including snowball, purpose-based, and third-party introduction sampling, was used to select 20 retired college soldiers for interviews. NVivo 12 software was used to process the data. Content analysis based on grounded theory involved three-level hierarchical encoding. An iterative verification loop ensured data saturation for a reliable final theoretical model.
RESULTS: Moral injury stems from potential events, but actual injury requires role conflict and cognitive dissonance. Role conflict pits competing roles against each other, while cognitive dissonance mismatches beliefs and actions. Six factors modulate this process: stereotypes, role identity, personality traits, attribution styles, moral resilience, and rumination, which can either worsen or buffer moral injury.
CONCLUSIONS: This study innovatively explores moral injury’s internal mechanism in Chinese society, creating a culture-specific framework. Future research should further investigate moral impairment in the Chinese context. Intervention projects can target influential factors like role identity, stereotypes, and personality to manage role conflict, reduce cognitive dissonance, and enhance moral resilience, thus safeguarding well-being. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
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