Influence of Attitude and Expectation on Moods and Symptoms during cold Weather Military Training

Abstract

The present study examined the influence of 91) air temperature, (2) day into training, (3) self rating of life stress, (4) rating of relative warmth in cold weather, and (5) expectation for liking cold weather training, on 59 soldiers' self-reports of illness and mood during 3 days of training in the cold (-18 to 0 C range). Mood was assessed on six domains of the Profile of Mood States rating scale, and symptoms of illness were assessed on 14 domains of the Environmental Symptoms Questionnaire. Multiple regression analyses showed that (1) the more soldiers expected to dislike the cold weather training, the more tense, depressed, angry, fatigued, and physically uncomfortable they were during training; (2) the more stress they perceived in their everyday lives, the more fatigued, confused, and physically uncomfortable they were during training; (3) as days into training increased the more fatigued they became; and (4) due to appropriate clothing and training, ambient temperature was found to have little influence on the soldiers' moods and symptoms. Keywords: Fatigue, Stress, Psychology, Subjective reports, Illness, Warmth, Mountaineering.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 30, 1988
Accession Number
ADA199201

Entities

People

  • Donna J. Mcmenemy
  • Laurence G. Branch
  • Richard F. Johnson

Organizations

  • United States Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Data Analysis
  • Education
  • Health
  • Heat Energy
  • Hunger
  • Injury Prevention
  • Materials
  • Medical Personnel
  • Military Research
  • Military Training
  • Pain
  • Psychology
  • Questionnaires
  • Regression Analysis
  • Sweating
  • Therapy
  • Training

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

  • Exercise and Sports Science.
  • Military Training and Readiness Simulation
  • Organizational Psychology.