Effects of Military Leadership on Military Sexual Trauma (MST) Survivors

Introduction

The integration of women into the military in the early 1980s provided women opportunities and increased sexual misconduct between males and females in the army. Sexual violence in the US forces is a fact that has been recognized in military leadership, policymakers, media, and healthcare officials (Beum, 2015). Though sexual assault cases are prevalent to both men and women, the rates are high among females compared to males. The incidences range from sexual coercion, for instance, threat on one's career or promise to benefit in one's career, to unwanted sexual attention, for instance, touching, threats to initiate a sexual relationship, and fondling. 

The effects of Various forms of Military sexual trauma (MST) ranges from unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections, physical harm, mental health conditions such as Post-traumatic stress disorder (PSTD), suicidal ideation, substance abuse, and depression. Survivors of such experiences usually have altered psychosocial behaviors and encounter difficulties in engaging in long term relationships, experiencing difficulties in integrating with other people, and struggling with long-term employment. As such, reporting these incidents is critical and forms the basis for handling the issues. Therefore, military leadership plays a critical role in the effectiveness of dealing with MST survivors and ensuring they reduce to the bare minimum in the future. 

Statement of the Problem 

The military environment, including its past discrimination against women, position promotion, and general negative view of women, facilities sexual violence. Military service members are expected to conceal emotion and demonstrate strength and virility. In many instances, this notion of hypermasculinity has been positively correlated with increased aggression display. The defense department created the sexual assault prevention and report office charged with prohibiting, observing, and reporting sexual assault. However, each military branch implements its distinct programs as long as they comply with the DOD guidelines. There is a lack of assessment of the programs' performance in changing behavior, attitude, and cases of sexual assault in the military.

Most incidences of military sexual assaults are reported in person to the Military Criminal Investigative Organization. Good leadership in the military is core to the survivors reporting such cases as the opposite will create an air of distrust and stigmatize them (Wolff et al., 2020). As a result, there may be many incidences of such violations going unreported. In some cases, the leadership may fail to take action for fear that their actions will become public knowledge and thus tarnish their reputations. Reporting of the incidences and restricted access to information regarding such incidences by research halts the much-needed statistics to help the survivor and improve the situations in the military setting. As such inadequate care is given to survivors. 

A study conducted in 2017 revealed that the prevalence of sexual assault is higher for women than men. About 22% of women in the military have experienced sexual assault than only 1% of men (Griffith, 2019). A maximum of 3% of these victims of sexual assault reported the incidences involving unwanted sexual contact and sexual harassment. The major reason for underreporting sexual assault incidences is fear of retaliation to victims professionally, socially, or by the administration (Griffith, 2019). Often, the perpetrators of sexual assault are themselves unit leaders, where victims would ordinarily report these incidences. Additionally, when incidences were reported, the unit leaders either took no action or did so unsatisfactorily on the victim's side.

The failure by the management to take action may allow oppressors to continue with their behaviors aggressively. Such lack of awareness among military leaders regarding sexual trauma results in distrust, and the survivors work in an environment that is neither comfortable nor productive. Thus, an environment marred by sexual predation continues to grow, military servicemen sexually assaulted do not report. Instead, their physical and mental health continues to deteriorate. Military units that reported elevated levels of sexual assault were also associated with a high risk of suicidal behavior at the individual level. The risk of suicidality reduces in the unit, where individuals had trust in their group leader.

Ideally, there should be a collaboration between military service members and their leaders, whereby leaders address sexual harassment reports with all seriousness. When women in the military report harassment and are not investigated, they lose confidence that their supervisor would be of assistance in later incidents. In most of these cases, sexual harassment evolved to sexual assault and violence. To improve the reporting of incidents, there need to be policies passed that protect victims. Currently, the victims bear the burden of proving that an act of punishment occurred solely because they reported sexual abuse. The new policy would cite that reporting the sexual assault was a contributing factor to the retaliation experienced. Then the burden would be on the perpetrator to prove that this is not the case. Secondly, unit leaders should be held accountable and evaluated based on developing an environment responsive to harassment claims and concern for the victims of sexual assault.

The guiding research questions for this project are:

How has military law influenced the incidence rates of sexual assault and sexual assault reporting for women?

What are the most effective ways military leadership can improve the way sexual assault incidents are reported and investigated?

Literature Review

Historically, many of the common crimes committed in the military were tried in civil courts. The rise of sexual assault scandals, legislation, and task-forces initiated military rape law that started at the end of 1980. The debate around sexual assault has largely driven all change that has occurred since.

Military Law Aspects 

Before the 20th century, the American criminal justice system did not include sexual assault in common-law crimes. If individuals in the military service were accused of sexual misconduct, congress had mandated their commanders to surrender them to local civil courts. This soon presented a problem whereby the U.S occupied areas with no civil court systems (Carson & Carson, 2018). Therefore, congress gave exclusive rights to the military to prosecute military crimes. Military commanders were required to turn offenders to courts-martial. The underlying factor was the military status of the accused.

Early on, the United States borrowed heavily from the British military system regarding laws and definitions. The popular term then was rape. It was defined as “the carnal knowledge of a woman without her consent or against her will” (Carson & Carson, 2018). It indicated that for a sexual assault crime to occur, the action had to be one where force has been used; the victim must be a woman who is not a wife to the alleged perpetrator. Special rules unique to sexual crimes were passed to prevent men from false accusations. The key considerations required to validate the accusation included that the report was done soon enough after the alleged act, evidence of defiance by the victim, independent corroboration of events from the victim. Additionally, the victim’s past sexual behavior was admissible in court as a basis to evaluate consent.

The court in the military justice system is known as the court-martial, which enforces laws within the military setting. The military law provides the victims of sexual assault with options of reporting, i.e., a restricted and unrestricted report. A restricted report is applied when the military service member reports their sexual assault incident confidentially to the agencies such as healthcare personnel, SAPR, SARC, and Victim Advocate (VA). Still, they do not wish for an official investigation. Usually, restricted reports do not lead to an investigation, and the chain of command of the victim is not informed. However, the chain of command is only notified about a filed case but not the victim or offender's identity. Therefore, due to the confidentiality of the report, the offender is not punished. The unrestricted report is applied when military sexual assault victims need to follow through with an official investigation. Once the victim files a report to an agency, the chain of command is notified. At this point, it depends entirely on the decision and action of the chain command and how it influences the sexual assault reporting. Usually, crimes occurring within the military are reported through a chain of command, an organizational structure where the top rank pass orders to the down ranks. According to Christenson (2014), the commander has more discretions and powers in criminal cases. The commander makes the decision to either pursue the filed case, negotiate plea deals, selects the jury, and approves trial charges, or not. The commander has the power to reduce sentences or overrule guilty verdicts passed by the court-martial. It is evident that the commander possesses overwhelming power during court-martial and investigation, which has resulted in a lot of criticism for promoting sexual assault incidences. The military personnel and victims have fought against using a chain of command in the reporting process for cases involving sexual assault. 

Stander and Thomsen (2016) state that some policies in the military have been applied in ways that facilitate rape myths or victim blame. For instance, some people believe that unless there is the involvement of physical violence, an assault is not rape or the belief that women have a tendency of lying about being assaulted. An example of the military law that promotes incidences of sexual assault includes the 306 rule outlined under the Rules for Courts-Martial. This rule provides different factors that military leaders should master before making the decision on how to deal with a reported crime or offense, which supports the rape myth. These factors comprise evaluating the availability of evidence, the accused's willingness to testify, the likelihood of improper motives, the level of the harm caused, and the military service and character of the accused. This means that if the military personnel is accused and has no record of the things listed above, then the accusations will not be taken seriously due to these regulations. Besides, legal discrimination of gays is within the military is a troubling military regulation. The military law forbids consensual sodomy, including anal sex, fellatio, and cunnilingus. This statue has posed challenges to the LGBT population serving in the military to report cases of sexual assault for fear that others might believe they have participated in illegal gay behavior. The military policy contradicts the United States' national law, which states that prohibiting consensual sodomy is unconstitutional. Therefore, this law makes it difficult for the victims of sexual assault to report the offender in spite of their individual sexual orientation. 

A similar study by Schenck (2013) indicates that low reporting rates are high despite the increasing incidences of sexual assault occurring in the military. Sexual violence is promoted by the underreporting trend s. The barriers hindering women in the military from reporting include embarrassment, victimization, betraying the unit, anxiety over revenge or privacy violations, being denied special duties or promotions, and facing judgment from coworkers. In addition, most victims are made to remain in the same unit as the attacker, lack of sufficient training for officers with the mandate of handling sexual assault cases. The military legal systems are also obstacles when it comes to case reporting.

Cernak (2015) states that sexual assault is a problem that affects many people worldwide. Domestic law and international law have both failed to offer an adequate remedy to the victims of sexual assault since the historical period. Although the United States has put in efforts to reform the law, the traditional ideas of gender continue to contribute to the frequencies of sexual assault occurrences. These traditional notions should be a concern to the policymakers and the international community to promote gender equality. Pervasive issues, especially the ones that are gender-related, within the military makes it an unsafe place for dealing with sexual assault cases. The military itself is still doing the investigation and trial process regarding sexual assault incidences in the U.S and other nations. This has often led to the failure of the military to offer sexual assault victims the autonomous investigation and examine the offenses. Unequal treatment is still a problem across the globe. Categorizing sexual assault crime as an international human rights concern would provide cases of sexual assault within the military with greater recognition, thereby promoting policy changes within the domestic law. The fear in reporting the cases of sexual assault to the military commanders is worrying. This problem has necessitated the outside judicial review's need to offer justice to the victims of intra-military sexual assault and minimize incidences of sexual assault and rape. The nature of these acts makes rape and sexual assault within the military be classified as "gendered crimes." Sexual assault is not a unique problem to the militaries in the U.S and worldwide. The widespread occurrence of intra-military sexual assault should be perceived as an international gender crime that violates the international customary law. The international law forbids gender-based crimes; therefore, it is significant for the military to be aware that intra-military sexual assault and rape are gender-based crimes. 

Historically, international law did not recognize the victims of intra-military sexual assault. The ways in which rape and sexual assault were treated during the historical era offers an understanding of how these sexual crimes are handled in our contemporary society. The international humanitarian law only came to recognize an individual's right to be free from sexual assault and rape in the 20th century. However, it largely protects civilians and not military victims. The International Humanitarian law is a body that focuses on protecting victims of rape and preserving harmony in society. A study by Schenck (2013) points out that intentional law does not clearly recognize the sexual crimes committed within the military despite the various advances in achieving gender equality. The international law has failed to enhance recognition of sexual crimes within international criminal regimes, human rights, and humanitarian, thus hindering its explicit recognition. Lack of clear recognition makes a challenge for the efforts of the international community to promote gender equality. 

A similar study by Dinneen (2015) indicates that sexual assault has been a problem ever since women began working in the military. Despite the media's attention on sexual assault scandals, the military leadership has not taken any adequate action to handle these issues. The military leadership took action in 2004 when the intra-military sexual assaults occurred to soldiers in Kuwait and Iraq. Following these scandals, the Secretary of Defense at the time created the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO). It educates and trains individuals in the military on sexual assault issues and offers victims of assaults non-legal assistance. 

According to Dinneen (2015), the American legal system fails to acknowledge or deter sexual assaults and rape among military service members. Although the military leadership has attempted to improve reporting and management of sexual crimes, the military justice system has proven to be an ineffective venue for prosecuting such crimes. Most of these cases are substantiated thus do not lead to charges by the court-martial. This reveals that most cases do not go trial leading to reduced charges such as fines, reduction, or dismissal. The military law is not appropriate for handling sexual assault claims, especially those involving sexual assault. The reason for this is that some cases involve officers in the perpetuator's chain of command. The military is also not suited to handle intra-military sexual offenses because when examining the crimes committed by a soldier, the officers review the significant factors related to the military, which influence a soldier's decision to commit a crime. The ability to examine the objectives of a military personnel mission when the crime occurred is outside the jurisdiction of the citizen's expertise and very significant to the security both at the national and international level. These factors are not applied when it comes to sexual assault cases. In addition, the military level of expertise applied to offenses executed when on duty does not cover the sexual assault cases. The likelihood for abuses in sexual assault cases is prevalent, as shown by the military's records of accomplishment involving such type of cases. The victims of sexual assault still face retribution for reporting. Therefore, it is evident that the military environment is not suitable for addressing sexual assault crimes among military personnel due to the widespread gender bias. 

Dinneen (2015) states that gender biasness especially stereotyping of gender roles, is a huge factor behind the sexual assault crimes committed to both women and men. Both the civilian court system and the military itself are inadequate when it comes to addressing the sexual assault cases inside the military service members. The military offers minimal chances of the victim, seeing perpetrators experiencing severe penalties. The U.S legal system often dismisses intra-military sexual assault cases claiming the severity of these injuries does not compare to those of the civilian sexual assault victims. Failure to address the sexual assault cases infringes on the victim's right to have freedom from sexual assault. Traditionally, the international system did not put any effort into handling sexual crimes within the military. However, these are slowly changing, whereby the international human rights bodies have attempted to address sexual assault complaints within the military. Concerns have been raised that international bodies are ineffective in addressing sexual assault issues directly due to the international system's structure and sovereignty. However, international law can be utilized as a catalyst to promote change within the domestic law by reinforcing the international customary law in this region. The victims of sexual assault can appeal to the international human rights bodies to acknowledge the government's inability to handle the sexual assault cases appropriately and offer an independent oversight in violation of the international customary human rights law. Having an independent oversight may contribute significantly towards reinforcing the acknowledgment of intra-military sexual crimes. It may also foster the advancement of congressional efforts to eradicate the control of intra-military sexual assault cases by the military. 

According to Stander and Thomsen (2016), the Department of Defense (DoD) sexual report comprises numerous statistics, graphs, and charts. This makes it difficult for policymakers to locate and assess any useful information when evaluating whether the DoD is minimizing incidents of crime and promoting effective punishment for sexual assault crime. The statistics of the DoD are confusing. For instance, some of the investigations opened are never completed, some completed with disposition, and others disposition not completed. Although summaries and synopses of various cases are incorporated in each service report, the reasons for the inclusion of a specific summary is not defined. Moreover, different combinations and categories of subjects and victims are also confusing. Some victims who have been assaulted sexually by the military service members do not trust the DoD and the chain of command. The military leaders have been accused of protecting sex offenders by overlooking the sex crimes for fear of ruining their image. Transparency is crucial for promoting integrity in the military justice system. Transparency can be practiced by establishing the duty personnel handling each offense by gathering the reported sexual assault crimes. In addition, the collected, reported cases of sexual crime should be provided for overall DoD, courts-martial jurisdictions, and military services. The reports presented to Congress should clearly reveal whether the specific crimes have decreased or increased annually, as well as the information on sentencing. Statistics obtained should be distributed on the internet by every general court-martial jurisdiction to offer victims transparency and enhance the chain of command's accountability and the command's legal advisor to determine whether they took appropriate action against perpetrators. The DoD should provide the collected information to the public and the Congress, and statistics for the DoD overall, every service, and every general court-martial. Therefore, through this, consistency of information would be achieved and promote the credibility of reports associated with the victimization of military personnel .

Rape law Changes

Both military service individuals and other defendants had complaints about the courts-martial military justice system. Congress allowed some protection measures for the accused individual. This included a pretrial event that was open for the accused to attend (Carson & Carson, 2018). More than that, the accused had the right to question the witnesses and provide evidence to lead to their acquittal. On the other hand, the military courts were observed to be unfair to defendants when compared to civil courts. During the late 1960s, rape laws underwent significant transmission in the civilian system (Carson & Carson, 2018). The rape law was expanded to include sexual assault and varying levels of rape, depending on the perpetrator’s liability.

The Modern Statute

Further reformations to the law included the abolishment of the spousal exception in the definition of sexual assault. A long history of sexual assault scandals mandated prompt updates of the military law that contained two-aspect; rape and carnal knowledge by 2006. Evaluations by created task forces established that there were better systems to hold sexual assault perpetrators accountable. However, the system's limiting factor was that they lacked a full range of criminal sexual behaviors witnessed.

Improving the Military Leadership

Mincey (2019) states that the military leadership can improve the way sexual incidents are reported and investigated through updating the standard for whistleblowers within the military. The current law makes it difficult for victims to report cases without facing retaliation. Through whistleblowing, the victim will report a case anonymously without fear of retaliation. In addition, the military should offer immunity for trivial security misbehavior. Many victims fear reporting cases due to concerns of being in trouble if they do. Approximately half of the sexual assaults that occur against women involve drinking. Underage drinking, adultery, and improper relationship between service personnel of different positions are considered offenses under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. There is no immunity for service members whose behaviors are exposed when a sexual assault report is being done. Many sexual assault victims have been discharged from office or disciplined for the behavior revealed during the reporting of the incident. Many offenders often take advantage of this aspect. Therefore, most lawyers discourage victims from reporting. Therefore, victims will always be reluctant to report sexual assault cases unless the military promises immunity by not taking harsh action for minor misconduct. Moreover, the military must sort out the issue of sexual harassment. Evidence from Mincey (2019) indicates that several sexual assault survivors reported that their supervisors overlooked the sexual harassment complaints. When the assault occurred later, they did not have confidence that they would receive any help. Many leaders in the military often overlook sexual harassment complaints because of concerns that such complaints will reflect negatively on them. The military leaders should put in place measures that will allow them to effectively address the complaints and establish an environment that will provide victims with the confidence of reporting sexual assault cases. Military leaders should also develop a clear and consistent action, which demonstrates that harassing and retaliatory behavior are forbidden and does not mirror the military culture. Half of the women who reported sexual harassment within the military faced discouragement from reporting to their supervisors. They felt worse from the treatment they received from their co-workers after reporting. The military supervisors should examine whether they are able to effectively address the complaints and establish a climate that victims will be able to report their concerns confidently. 

The military leaders should create a non-hostile workplace environment where the service members will feel confident in safe reporting an incident of sexual misbehavior to military authority. The reporting system should be utilized as an instrument in establishing a non-hostile workplace setting. Getting rid of the confusion regarding what constitutes sexual assault or harassment will enable the victims to have more confidence in filing a complaint, which is very important for an organization's success. Leaders must focus on protecting complaints from possible consequences due to filing a sexual assault incident. The military department should be proactive in reducing and deterring the possible occurrence of sexual assault and harassment victims from experiencing the consequences by evaluating environments that promote retaliatory behavior. Retaliatory behavior occurs due to maltreatment and reprisal, which creates a hostile work environment for employees. The fear of mistreatment or reprisal remains a huge concern for people who are thinking about filing a complaint. Actions of maltreatment may include things such as misconduct or social exclusion by leaders or peers (Christenson, 2014).

According to Christenson (2014), leaders should develop policies that they believe will help address the problem of sexual assault. The military leaders should be trained adequately to ensure the policy is effective and shared across the organization. The military leaders should ensure the developed reporting systems and policies are implemented appropriately with the organization's culture. Leaders who fail to implement these policies properly should face harsh consequences. Such leaders contribute towards increased incidences of sexual abuse policies and the reporting process. 

Moreover, Mincey (2019) states that the commanders' power and authority imbalance in addressing sexual assault needs to be addressed. There is a need to put in place an independent oversight that will monitor the cases' proceedings. Conflict of interest should be removed from the current system to address the sexual assault issues effectively. In the current system, the commander has the power to cover a crime for a friend or his own crime, thereby protecting the guilty. Unless leaders learn accountability, independence and transparency will not be achieved in the system. Professionally trained prosecutors should be permitted to make a decision on sexual assault cases rather than the commanding officers. Therefore, these changes would contribute significantly towards improving the military leadership accountability on sexual assault cases. 

The military law has failed to put in place measures that will allow uniform gathering of report information associated with the investigation of sexual assault claims. This generates complications in the efforts of policies to address sexual assault within the military environment. In addition, military law has failed to apply common terminology in reporting, making it challenging for congress and the DOD to understand the problem fully. Moreover, the lack of cohesive reporting practices has been worsened by the general lack of coordination among service members. There is a need for a comprehensive approach to resolving the issue of sexual harassment and assault (Mincey, 2019).

The Department of Defense has provided recommendations on how to decrease the incidences of intra-military sexual assault. For instance, the DoD has suggested thorough background checks to be conducted during the screening process. Research reveals that there is a high number of recruits in the military who have committed sexual offenses at one point in their life but never faced conviction. This provides them a leeway to pass the current criminal background check. Putting in place rigorous screening measures would help eliminate the possibility of recruiting male individuals with past sex assault offenses, thus reducing the cases of intra-military sexual crime. The recruits should be monitored closely for any inappropriate actions that could result in sexual assault crime. Moreover, the elements of sexual crime should be cultivated within the military, such as creating awareness on the effects of aggression and sexual violence. Legal amendments should also be made because the current laws promote sexual discrimination, violence, and underreporting of sexual assault offenses (Stander & Thomsen, 2016) .

Analysis of Evidence

In various periods of history, literature review has revealed various obstacles that have influenced the reporting of sexual assault. Many of these issues are still relevant now, and they have only taken more sublime turns. The practices include increasing the burden on the victim of the assault. In addition to the emotional and mental disturbance that a sexual assault victim faces, the judicial system immediately casts doubt on their experience. This action discourages victims of sexual assault from coming forward. The fear of retaliation remains the most powerful deterrent against seeking justice (Warner & Armstrong, 2020). In some cases, victims withdrew allegations they had made previously even after leaders tried to follow up.

The military institution has been bombarded with the addition of the legislature to address the sexual assault menace. Firstly, sexual assault was expanded to include rape, penetrative sex, unwanted sexual contact, sexual harassment. Interventions included the military undergoing sexual assault education awareness and strict punishments. For instance, a directive was issued in the case where all penetrative sexual assault cases are handled by a commander that is at the level of O-6 and higher. It has generated greater responsibility and reduced unwanted sexual contact. 

A bad practice that continues till now is placing the burden on proof on the victim rather than on the defendant. This is evident in the 19th century, whereby if the assaulted woman did not make a prompt report, it would call into question the claim's credibility. Besides, the victim's past sexual conduct would come under scrutiny as a basis for evaluating consent availability. In recent times, sexual assault victims under 18 years refrain from making reports if the act happened while they were drinking. The military tends to punish these minor violations rather than pursue sexual violation claims. 

Conclusions

The military's environment and ingrained unpleasant attitudes towards women are some contributing factors to the increased aggression and sexual assault within the military. Added to that, the military is not committed to providing justice to sexual assault victims. Its systems facilitate retaliation, especially where the perpetrators of violence are leaders to whom the victims would ordinarily report these incidences. Literature indicates the trend has been that the best interests of the victim are often overlooked. Reportedly, few individuals reported having undergone sexual harassment, and most were either ignored and went on to be assaulted while others were dissatisfied with how their leaders handled the situation.

Recommendations

To improve the reporting of incidents, there need to be policies passed that protect victims. The new policy would cite that reporting the sexual assault was a contributing factor to the retaliation experienced. Then the burden would be on the perpetrator to prove that this is not the case. Secondly, protection should be provided to victims who report if the action took place while they were committing a military offense. Finally, unit leaders should be held accountable and evaluated based on developing an environment responsive to harassment claims and concern for the victims of sexual assault.

Annotated Bibliography

BEUM, L. (2015). Toxic Leadership Affects Soldiers at All Levels.  Infantry ,  104 (3), 44–49.

The article addresses what options an employee has when their leader is causing a toxic working 

environment. Various literature has pursued good leaders' qualities and recognized signs of a 

toxic workplace and bad leaders, including those who place their needs above others. It includes 

a real-life experience of toxic leadership in a military unit.

Boies, K., & Howell, J. M. (2009). Leading Military Teams to Think and Feel: Exploring the 

Canadian military. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 31 (3), 246-262. doi:10.1108/01437731011039352

The article examines the relationship between the leadership exhibited in military teams and 

team effectiveness. For team members to achieve a goal, they need to have a similar 

understanding of the situation. The paper is relevant to the current study as it examines the use of 

punishment, discipline, and negative feedback, which is the norm in military units.

Carson, J. K., & Carson, B. R. (2018). The historical roots and future directions for military law and policies on rape and sexual assault.  Military Psychology ,  30 (3), 181-192.

The following article contains a literature review on the history of the military provision 

concerning sexual assault. Additionally, it highlights key cases and sexual assault scandals that 

pioneered sexual reform. It is relevant because it indicates strategies that worked and the reason 

others did not work.

Cheng, Y.-N., Yen, C.-L., & Chen, L. H. (2012). Transformational leadership and job involvement: The moderation of emotional contagion.  Military Psychology ,  24 (4), 382–396. 

The article explores the influence of leadership on the interactions between the leader and their 

subordinates. It is relevant to the current study because there has been established a relationship 

between leadership style and reporting sexual assault incidences in military units.

Ivey, G. W., & Kline, T. J. B. (2010). Transformational and active transactional leadership in the 

canadian military. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 31 (3), 246-262. 

doi:10.1108/01437731011039352

In this article, 704 military personnel rated their leaders’ actual behaviors and the behaviors they expected from their superiors. The study showed that transformational leadership did increase as the leaders were promoted, however the perceived or expected behaviors of the leaders were dictated by the junior soldiers’ expectation. 

Spencer, P. S., & MARINE CORPS COMMAND AND STAFF COLL QUANTICO VA. (2009). 

Balanced leadership: The forgotten art 

The article attempts to explain how the Marine Corps defines and implements leadership. As the article suggests, leadership objectives are segregated to support either the mission accomplishment or troop welfare. The author implies that there must be a balance for positive troop productivity and uplifted morale.

Orchowski, L. M., PhD., Berry-Cabán, C. S., PhD, Prisock, K., M.P.H., Borsari, B., PhD., 

Kazemi, D. M., PhD. (2018). Evaluations of sexual assault prevention programs in military settings: A synthesis of the research literature. Military Medicine, 183 (3), 421-428. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/10.1093/milmed/usx212

The article’s goal was to examine the effectiveness of sexual assault prevention programs in the military. The study found multiple discrepancies in the usage of the programs to include underutilized long-term follow- up care. The study noted the prevalence rate being 4-7% for women and 1-2% for men. The researchers concluded that exposure to the programs increased service members’ and college students’ perceived responsibility to prevent sexual assault.

Rabelo, V., Holland, K., & Cortina, L. (2019). From Distrust to Distress: Associations Among 

Military Sexual Assault, Organizational Trust, and Occupational Health. Psychology of Violence. , 9 (1), 78–87. https://doi.org/10.1037/vio0000166

Ranbelo, Holland and Cortina’s article illustrated the correlation between distrust and mental health issues following sexual assault in the military. The basis is that after a service member is assaulted, if there is no support from their chain of command, that member may feel betrayed and revictimized. Their work ethic drops and the likelihood of retention in the military decreases. Conversely, should their leaders provide support, the opposite is likely to happen.

Monteith, L., Gerber, H., Brownstone, L., & Soberay, K. (2019). The Phenomenology of Military 

Sexual Trauma Among Male Veterans. Psychology of Men and Masculinity. , 20 (1), 115–127. https://doi.org/10.1037/men0000153

The article addressed military sexual trauma among males. Similar to female survivors, the men were hypervigilant, distrustful, and exhibited behaviors that would prevent revictimization. Unlike their counterparts, the men began to question their sexuality and suffered disruptions to their masculinity. The study sought to bring light to male sexual trauma in the military.

Wolff, Kristina B, PhD, MS, MPA, MPH, & Mills, Peter D,PhD., M.S. (2016). Reporting 

military sexual trauma: A mixed-methods study of women veterans' experiences who served from world war II to the war in afghanistan. Military Medicine, 181 (8), 840-848. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/10.7205/MILMED-D-15-00404

The study interviewed women Veterans serving from World War II to the Afghanistan War. The data collected revealed that 90% of the women had endured at least one form of military sexual trauma and nearly all of them remained silent due to lack of options to report, the status of the assailant, or fear of retaliation. The data’s goal was to illustrate the challenges of seeking assistance in reporting the assault or obtaining health care for their sexual traumas.

Rozčenkova, A., & Dimdiņš, Ģ. (2011). Emotional Intelligence as a mediator between 

commanders’ transformational leadership and soldiers’ social identification with their 

unit in the military.  Baltic Journal of Psychology ,  12 (1), 59–72.

This research was meant to determine whether or not transformational leadership affects external and internal social capital in management teams by using the structural equation model. The study found that both internal and external social capital affected transformational leadership and organizational innovation.

Griffith, J. (2019). The Sexual Harassment-Suicide Connection in the US Military: Contextual 

Effects of Hostile Work Environment and Trusted Unit Leaders.  Suicide & 

Life-Threatening Behavior ,  49 (1), 41–53. https://doi-org.libproxy.lamar.edu/10.1111/ 

sltb.12401

The text discusses how sexual harassment is linked to suicidal behaviors. Studies found that at the individual levels, sexual harassment was associated 5-fold for suicidal behaviors while at larger institutional levels, the risk was 3 times higher for suicide. The study discussed sexual harassment prevention programs and suicidal risk management.

References

BEUM, L. (2015). Toxic Leadership Affects Soldiers at All Levels.  Infantry ,  104 (3), 44–49.

Boies, K., & Howell, J. M. (2009). Leading Military Teams to Think and Feel: Exploring the 

Canadian military. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 31 (3), 246-262. doi:10.1108/01437731011039352

Carson, J. K., & Carson, B. R. (2018). The historical roots and future directions for military law and policies on rape and sexual assault.  Military Psychology ,  30 (3), 181-192.

Cernak, S. (2015). Sexual assault and rape in the military: The invisible victims of international gender crimes at the front lines.  Mich. J. Gender & L. ,  22 , 207.

Cheng, Y.-N., Yen, C.-L., & Chen, L. H. (2012). Transformational leadership and job involvement: The moderation of emotional contagion.  Military Psychology ,  24 (4), 382–396. 

Christenson, D. (2014). Chain of Command: The Barriers of Reporting Sexual Assault in the Military.

D. M., Ph.D. (2018). Evaluations of sexual assault prevention programs in military settings: A synthesis of the research literature. Military Medicine, 183 (3), 421-428. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/10.1093/milmed/usx212

Dinneen, C. M. (2015). Current Challenges Being Faced by Female Survivors of Military Sexual Assault: Suggestions for Policy Change.

Griffith, J. (2019). The Sexual Harassment-Suicide Connection in the U.S. Military: Contextual 

https://doi-org.libproxy.lamar.edu/10.1080/08995605.2012.695261

Ivey, G. W., & Kline, T. J. B. (2010). Transformational and active transactional leadership in the 

Life-Threatening Behavior ,  49 (1), 41–53. https://doi-org.libproxy.lamar.edu/10.1111/ 

Military Sexual Assault, Organizational Trust, and Occupational Health. Psychology of Violence. , 9 (1), 78–87. https://doi.org/10.1037/vio0000166

Mincey, C. E. (2019). Leaders' Perceptions of the Sexual Misconduct Reporting System in the Military. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7523&=&context=dissertations&=&sei-redir

Monteith, L., Gerber, H., Brownstone, L., & Soberay, K. (2019). The Phenomenology of Military Sexual Trauma Among Male Veterans. Psychology of Men and Masculinity. , 20 (1), 115–127. https://doi.org/10.1037/men0000153

org.libproxy.lamar.edu/10.1080/08995600902768743

Stander, V. A., & Thomsen, C. J. (2016). Sexual harassment and assault in the US military: A review of policy and research trends.  Military Medicine ,  181 (suppl_1), 20-27.

Schenck, L. M. (2013). Informing the debate about sexual assault in the military services: Is the Department of Defense its own worst enemy.  Ohio St. J. Crim. L. ,  11 , 579.

Warner, C. M., & Armstrong, M. A. (2020). The Role of Military Law and Systemic Issues in the Military's Handling of Sexual Assault Cases.  Law & Society Review ,  54 (1), 265-300.

Wolff, Kristina B, Ph.D., MS, M.P.A., M.P.H., & Mills, Peter D, PhD., M.S. (2016). Reporting military sexual trauma: A mixed-methods study of women veterans' experiences who served from world war II to the war in Afghanistan. Military Medicine, 181 (8), 840-848. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/10.7205/MILMED-D-15-00404