Laissez-Faire Leadership and the Trauma-PTSD Relationship: How Do Followers Fare?

Abstract

It has been well-established that exposure to traumatic events is associated with greater incidences of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The current study examined the role of one's leader in this relationship, specifically focusing on laissez-faire leadership in the context of military peacekeeping deployments. Laissez-faire leaders are passive, pushing decisions to subordinates and abdicating their authority. We tested hypotheses that exposure to traumatic events is more strongly related to PTSD when individuals perceive their leaders have shirked their duties and failed to lead. Further, we explored substitutes for leadership, hypothesizing that 1) adequate training and preparation and 2) strong peer support can mitigate the deleterious impact of the laissez-faire leader's failure to take charge. Finally, we examine two types of traumatic experiences – combat-related (e.g., war zone danger exposure) and interpersonal (e.g., bullying, sexual harassment) since expectations of leadership could differ depending on trauma type. Results from data from Norwegian veterans who deployed to Lebanon (n = 10,152) revealed that both combat-related and interpersonal trauma exposure and laissez-faire leadership style were positively associated with PTSD. The harmful effects of exposure to trauma were buffered when soldiers reported higher levels of peer support. Further, soldiers who reported receiving better training also reported lower levels of PTSD symptoms following their deployment. However, the protective effects of higher training were diminished in the presence of leadership that adopted a laissez-faire style, demonstrating the destructive nature of a laissez-faire leader.