What pre-deployment and early post-deployment factors predict health function after combat deployment?: a prospective longitudinal study of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF)/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) soldiers

Table 4 Models predicting phase 2 mental function

	Model 1 R ²=.06				Model 2 R ²=.23				Model 3 R ²=.40
	b	SEMb	β	t	b	SEMb	β	t	b	SEMb	β	t
Age	.24	.06	.19	4.19**	.17	.05	.13	3.06*	.17	.05	.13	3.58**
Body Mass Index	15	.10	.07	1.40	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Mental Health Function (Phase 1)					14.	.07	.12	2.12*	.14	.05	.12	3.02**
Social Desirability					.32	.14	.11	2.36*	.32	.12	.11	2.65**
Negative Emotionality					.08	.03	.11	2.97**	.08	.03	.13	2.76**
Social Support									-.38	.10	-.17	-63**
Physical Symptoms (Phase 2)									-.33	.04	-.35	-8.12**
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms (Phase 2)

** p < .001, * p < .05. Each successive step accounted for a significant increase in variance over the prior model (all ps < .05 or better). Overall final model adjusted R² = 0.40. For the model predicting mental health function at Phase 2 we included the following Phase 1 variables: gender, age, BMI, mental health function at Phase 1, social desirability, negative emotionality, absorption, social support, approach coping, avoidance coping, pre-deployment life events, alcohol misuse, physical symptoms, diastolic blood pressure at Phase 1 and smoking. We also included the following Phase 2 variables: deployment experiences, combat experiences, physical symptoms and PTSD symptoms. Non-significant predictors were eliminated using a backward elimination method. Higher scores indicate better mental function.

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