Recent research shows that civilians who work with the military in war zones are often exposed to life-threatening situations that can create psychological distress. In this study, we examine whether cohesion buffers the relationship between threat and psychological distress. Using a probability sample of civilians working with the U.S. Army in Iraq and Afghanistan, we find that cohesion buffers the relationship between threat and both internalizing and externalizing forms of emotional distress, but does so nonlinearly, with buffering observed at moderate but not high levels of cohesion. This research shows that cohesion may be an important resource for the mental health of civilians working in war zones but also supports sociological theory positing that the utility of social resources for individual well-being may be obviated in tightly integrative social contexts.
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