The Nigerian Civil War (or Nigerian-Biafran War, 1967–1970) was fought between the Nigerian federal government and the defunct Republic of Biafra. Biafra recruited young men and boys (child soldiers) to fight the war, but little attention has been given to understanding the mental health outcomes of the War on Biafran veterans. Although there are few studies on social support in relation to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in this older veteran population, the mechanism through which social support influences PTSD has not received much attention. Hence, we investigated whether self-efficacy explains the association between social support and PTSD symptoms in a sample of Biafran War veterans. They were recruited from the Veterans’ association in south-east Nigeria ( N = 250; Mage = 71.33 years, SD = 7.11), and completed self-report measures of social support, self-efficacy, and PTSD symptoms. Results showed that veterans with greater social support (β = −.49, p < .001) and high self-efficacy reported less PTSD symptoms (β = −.55, p < .001). Above all, social support predicted decreased PTSD symptoms risk through increased self-efficacy, 95% CI [−0.53, −0.29]. By implication, social support may be associated with lower PTSD symptoms because it enhances efficacy beliefs, and thereby leads to less PTSD symptoms.

中文翻译：

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尼日利亚内战五十年后：比夫拉退伍军人自我效能感增强，社会支持与创伤后应激障碍症状相关


尼日利亚内战（或尼日利亚-比夫拉战争，1967-1970）是在尼日利亚联邦政府和已解散的比夫拉共和国之间进行的。比夫拉招募了年轻男子和男孩（儿童兵）参战，但很少有人关注战争对比夫拉退伍军人的心理健康影响。尽管关于老年退伍军人群体中社会支持与创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）症状相关的研究很少，但社会支持影响 PTSD 的机制尚未受到太多关注。因此，我们以比夫拉战争退伍军人为样本，研究了自我效能是否可以解释社会支持与创伤后应激障碍症状之间的关联。他们是从尼日利亚东南部退伍军人协会招募的（N = 250；M年龄= 71.33 岁，SD = 7.11），并完成了社会支持、自我效能和 PTSD 症状的自我报告测量。结果显示，社会支持较高（β = -.49，p < .001）和自我效能感较高的退伍军人报告的 PTSD 症状较少（β = -.55，p < .001）。最重要的是，社会支持通过提高自我效能来预测 PTSD 症状风险的降低，95% CI [−0.53，−0.29]。这意味着，社会支持可能与较低的 PTSD 症状相关，因为它增强了功效信念，从而减少了 PTSD 症状。