Background:

The influence of military operations on the mental health and well-being of the personnel deployed, has always been a topic of interest, supported by considerable empirical evidence. Some of the variables related with such influence have been leadership and morale.

Objectives:

this study will have a triple objective. On the one hand, the effect of Authentic Leadership on the Emotional State of soldiers will be analyzed during a peacekeeping mission. On the other hand, any type of mediation from the Moral level in the relationship of leadership with the type of emotionality will be observed. In addition, this study will check the accumulation of stress during the development of the mission affects in any way the previous mentioned relationships.

Method:

data were collected from 150 military ones, in the first and fifth months of the mission, using the ALQ, MORAL and PANAS questionnaires; Regression, mediation and t-student analysis were used to test the hypotheses.

Results:

the relationship between Authentic Leadership and the Emotional State was confirmed, as well as the mediating effect of Moral on previous variables when emotions were positive. No significant differences between the data at the beginning and end of the mission were found.

Conclusions:

Authentic Leadership is consolidated as a model of great relevance in military environments, which goes hand in hand with Moral, in benefit of the emotional well-being of military deployed personnel.