Study Of The Characteristics Of Personality And Mental Health And Their Relevant Factors Of Soldiers In Peacekeeping Medical Team

United Nations Peacekeeping troop is a special military professional group with peculiarity as compared with other military careers. The soldiers of the peacekeeping force are always far away from their motherland and situated in the environments and areas of the chaos caused by wars, and they are always challenged by the heavy mental and behavioral pressures. Therefore, the mental health problems of peacekeeping personnel in wartime have already attract the common concern of countries all over the world. Strengthening the studies of the personality and mental health and investigating the rules of mental problems in mission executions are vital to providing scientific psychological proof for commanders to do interventional mental work and to ensuring the maintenance of high level of mental health for the accomplishment of peacekeeping commissions.In our study, we employed Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory (CPAI), Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90), Assessment Inventory of Military Life, and Assessment Inventory of Social Supports to analyze the characteristics of the personality and mental health and their relevant factors and to investigate the changes in mental health before and after peacekeeping commission of the first peacekeeping medical team members from People's Liberation Army of China for the purpose of providing theoretical and practical proofs for the mental protection of peacekeeping members.We obtained the following results:1. CPAI results showed that the members of Chinese peacekeeping medical team were sound in personality and their levels of overall personality status were higher than those of the whole Chinese population.2. SCL-90 results showed that the members of Chinese peacekeeping medical team had high mental health levels, higher than those of the military norm.3. Changes in personality level after commission executions included defensiveness (DEF), inferiority-self acceptance (I-S), and hypomania (HYP), but the personality levels of the members of the peacekeeping medical team were higher than those of the whole Chinese population.4. No significant changes in the whole mental health status were found after going abroad, suggesting that the strict screening and training before going abroad were indispensable and effective.5. Great importance should be attached to fluctuations, especially in emotions and self-acceptance, which were more likely in male members.6. The comparison of the CPAI results of the members at different ages before and after going abroad showed obvious changes in hypomania and increased sensitivity in members older than 30 years old. SCL-90 results revealed that the mental levels of members older than 30 years were lower than those of the members younger than 30 years old.7. The comparison of the CPAI results of members with different levels of education showed that members in college groups or groups inferior to college education were more thrifty and simple but less habituated than those in graduate and doctor groups. No significant changes in personality were found in members by CPAI results of members with different educational levels before and after peacekeeping commission. SCL-90 results showed that members with higher educational level were more likely to have anxiety.8. The comparison of the CPAI results of the different marital statuses before and after going abroad showed some degrees of decrease in self-confidence of members in the non-marital status (unmarried, divorced) and obvious changes in hypomania and increased sensitivity of members in the marital status (married, remarried).9. Members with good social supports were more tolerant, more optimistic, and more practical, and they could evaluate things more objectively and could better accept others and their opinions. They were also more family-oriented. Members who could make full use of social resources were more extroversion-oriented, too.10. Members who were greatly affected by life accidents were weak in independenceand were easily influenced by social and life environments and their attachment to family and intimacy to relatives were weaker than other members. Great life incidents may cause anxiety, stronger paranoia, and weakened realistic sense, and even cause other problems such as antisocial behaviors and sexual maladjustment, etc.