Spirituality and resilience among West Point cadets: The mediating role of emotional integration.

Résumé

West Point aims to develop cadets into future leaders of character. With this end in mind, the academy exposes cadets to a demanding 47-month experience meant to challenge and develop their resilience. Empirical studies have demonstrated a link between spirituality and resilience, including in military populations, and Army doctrine acknowledges this connection. However, the mechanisms behind this link remain unclear, and no work to date has examined this relationship among members of a service academy population. Across two studies with West Point cadets ( = 187,  = 282), we sought to address these gaps. In particular, we examined the potential mediating role that emotional integration - taking an interested stance toward one's emotional experience - may play in the link between daily spiritual experiences as a connection with a higher power and resilience. Across both studies, statistically significant positive correlations were found among spirituality, emotional integration, and resilience. A cross-sectional statistical mediation model showed that emotional integration significantly partially mediated the relationship between spirituality and resilience. Overall, these findings suggest that daily spiritual experiences of a connection with a higher power were positively associated with resilience and that emotional integration statistically accounts for part of this association. Limitations of the study include the cross-sectional design, with future longitudinal and experimental work therefore being important. Implications for leader development programs and future directions are shared.