The individual values of combatants determine life goals, how to achieve them, and perform an important adaptive and protective function under conditions of combat stress. Understanding them enables mental health professionals to create an effective system of Combat and Operational Stress Control for military personnel. The purpose of this research was to determine the personal value sphere typology of individual values of combatants of the War in Eastern Ukraine, and, on its basis, to predict the vector of PTSD development. The value sphere (Rokeach Value Scale) and peculiarities of mental status (“Traumatic Stress Questionnaire”) of nine hundred forty three Ukrainian combatants were investigated. Cluster analysis made it possible to create a typology of combatants' values, consisting of five types: “Passionary”, “The one who does not leave the comfort zone”, “Romantic”, “Formal military man”, “Routine”. The most resistant to combat stress are combatants who are aimed at interiorizing values, expanding the boundaries of existing norms, and public recognition (“Passionary” (2.19%), “Romantic” (3.82%)), and the most vulnerable are those who are “Routine” (15.30%) and “Formal military man” (4.37%). The majority of Ukrainian combatants have a defined type of “The one who does not leave the comfort zone” type (74.32%). For them, safety and well-to-do life are the main priorities.
According to the results of the study, there were determined the peculiarities of military values of servicemen who participated in hostilities and had signs of PTSD and moral trauma. The study included 397 servicemen (aged 20 to 55 years) with combat experience. The study showed that PTSD and violation of moral normativity were closely related to unfavorable social conditions of performing combat tasks. Unlike PTSD, the moral normativity indicator was less tightly related to the immediate threat to life. The structure of values of the servicemen had no signs of PTSD as well as no violation of moral normativity consisted of factors that indicated the value of teamwork, responsibilities for decisions and actions made based on ideas related to loyalty to the oath and the Motherland, resistance, and professionalism. For the servicemen who participated in hostilities who had violations of moral normativity, it was more important to have the ability to act following their conscience, not to lose dignity, and to remain honest in the faces of their brothers than to have professionalism, loyalty to the oath and the Motherland.
