Individual Changes in the Spouse and Service Member During Deployment and the Impact on the Couples Reintegration
Abstract
Military spouses experience many unique stressors and protective factors during deployments that are dependent on specific characteristics of the deployment, the environment, and the couple. These stressors and protective factors impact the development of changes in the spouse and service member, and influence how these changes affect the couple during their reintegration post-deployment. The purpose of this study was to evaluate how these factors affected the spouses growth during deployment, and subsequently how changes during the deployment, such as growth in the spouse, impacted the reunion period. The present study utilized retrospective cross-sectional self-report data from the spouse and service members who completed the 2011 wave of the Millennium Cohort Study and had experienced a deployment together (N = 6,832). In addition, for a portion of the study the sample was limited to only those who had completed a deployment within the last 12 months (N =1,558), in order to capture those still in the post-deployment reunion phase. Findings indicated that protective factors (e.g., self-mastery, social support, and frequent communication with service member) were more likely to be related to spousal growth than the proposed stressors (e.g., number and length of deployment, worry about the service member, stressful communication, and having more children). However, change variables, such as spousal growth, were not significantly related to reunion stress when controlling for covariates. The only variables that did have a significant relationship with reunion stress were the perceived mental health quality of life of both the spouse and service member, such that poorer perceived mental health was associated with more reunion stress.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 15, 2020
- Accession Number
- AD1182786
Entities
People
- Sybil Mallonee
Organizations
- Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences