Social Network Analysis and Soldier Resilience

Abstract : As studies are conducted in search of a metric to measure posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and identify Soldiers who are at risk, attempts are being made to discover a measure that can provide insight into the resilience of a unit and seek to improve a unit's resilience. Using social network analysis (SNA), one may determine the cohesion of a unit through a physical representation of its social network and use this data to learn more about the effect of the unit's arrangement and friendships to improve resilience. In the civilian realm, several studies suggest a relationship between social networks and a person's psychological fitness. This paper aims to expand upon this research within a military context to improve the psychological fitness of Soldiers. The first part of the paper is a review of the effects of combat stress on a Soldier, specifically PTSD and posttraumatic growth (PTG), and the second is a review of the current literature available on the SNA in relation to combat stress. Finally, a proposal for future research is made as to how to use SNA to predict the effects of combat stress on individual Soldiers and their units.