Effects of deployment on committed relationships: Relationship satisfaction of partners of regular and Reservist army soldiers

Having a partner as a part of the military induces a level of great stress. There is an absence of literature focusing on the unique circumstances that Reservist and National Guard soldiers and their families face with deployment. This project aimed to explore the unique challenges of part-time military families, looking specifically into how partners of reservist military and regular military soldiers significantly differ in their description of the deployment experience and relational/marital satisfaction, as well as if deployment experience factors or certain demographic characteristics of partners of soldiers predict reported rates of marital satisfaction. A snowballing method to recruit participants was used in which participants accessed an internet-based survey, which consisted of demographics, deployment information, and contact during deployment, and the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale (RDAS). Dyadic adjustment of regular army and reservist partners revealed a minor difference of relational cohesion based on partner’s military affiliation. Differences in reported martial satisfaction were also found to be influenced by age and the interaction of age and partner’s military affiliation. Partners of regular army soldiers also indicated having a greater number of resources available for support during deployment and utilizing a greater number of methods to maintain contact during deployment. Qualitative analysis of participants’ descriptions of challenges and recommendations suggested parenting and childcare to be the most common challenge among regular and reservist components. Partners of regular army soldiers also appeared to frequently specify the need for social supports to be military affiliated. Limitations and contributions of findings are also discussed. EFFECTS OF DEPLOYMENT ON COMMITTED 1 Chapter I: Effects of Deployment on Committed Relationships As of December 31, 2009, the military consisted of 2,269,668 members, of which 1,421,668 were active duty soldiers and 848,000 people were in the seven reserve components; of the reserve component troops, 510,616 were members of the National Guard (Department of Defense, 2009a, 2009b). In a population of over 307,000,000 people, there is less than 1% in the active or reserve components of the military (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). The terms regular army and active army are commonly used to differentiate full-time army from their reserve and National Guard counterparts (Joint Education and Doctrine Division, J-7, Joint Staff, 2010). For the purposes of this study, the National Guard and Reserve organizations will be referred to collectively as reservists. This subset of the military population is faced with similar challenges as those of full-time military personnel, such as the omnipresent possibility of being separated from their residence and family in order to follow military command orders. Like their active counterparts, reservists are also sent into combat to defend the nation or support other nations in conflict; yet, they differ in how and where their time is spent outside of military activation. Military families are generally aware that military-induced separation may be mandated, the timing of its occurrence is unpredictable, and the experience of such a separation is often a difficult one to navigate (Kelly, 1994; McLeland & Sutton, 2008; Pierce, Vinokur, & Buck, 1998; Solomon, Dekel, & Zerach, 2008; Vormbrock, 1993). Merritt (2010) reported that military spouses who undergo intermittent deployments, rather than traditional deployments, experience more psychological distress and higher anxiety. Wexler and McGrath (1991) and Renshaw, Rodrigues, and Jones (2008) found EFFECTS OF DEPLOYMENT ON COMMITTED 2 families of deployed soldiers have to manage significant loneliness and anxiety during deployment. Despite the needs of these families, much of the research on military deployment has been focused on the soldiers themselves, to the neglect of the struggles of their families and family relationships (Wheeler & Torres-Stone, 2010). Moreover, in the limited research that does exist on military families, there is a stronger emphasis on the needs of full-time active military over their reservist counterparts (Wheeler & TorresStone, 2010). A major difference between regular military organizations and the reservist organizations, which is directly relevant to this proposed dissertation, is the degree of association family members have with the military. For instance, regular-military families are more likely to have neighbors, friends, and community members who share the same military affiliation and unit. They have a greater number of activities at which wives, husbands, and children meet other wives, husbands, and children who have family members in the same unit (Wheeler & Torres-Stone, 2010). Family members are able to connect with other military families from the same unit, which contributes to a sense of community (VanVranken, Jellen, Knudson, Marlowe, & Segal, 1984). When a regular military unit deploys, families are left surrounded with others who are experiencing similar challenges and therefore readily share and understand each other’s experiences. Reservist family members, on the other hand, do not typically have this same support network available to them (VanVranken et al., 1984). Instead of living on or near a large military installation, reservist members and their families can reside great distances from their home-base military unit; some of these families even live in a different state from their organization’s facilities (Wheeler & Torres-Stone, 2010). This EFFECTS OF DEPLOYMENT ON COMMITTED 3 separation leaves families of reservist soldiers separated and disconnected from the military organization. The following discussion provides an overview of the bodies of literature relevant to understanding the challenges of reservist families, which include studies exploring: (a) the potential consequences of combat faced by military personnel and their families, (b) the experiences of deployed reservists in comparison to regular-army personnel and their families, (c) the sources of support for military personnel and their families, (d) how relational satisfaction may be related to deployment, (e) the role of communication with marital satisfaction, (f) and cultural considerations as a source of support for soldiers and military families. Consequences of Combat Faced by Military Personnel and Their Families There are a number of attributes that characterize the military lifestyle. Some of these attributes are shared by all branches of the military, while others are specific to particular branches or organizations. Some of the common aspects shared by most military organizations include the potential for deployment and separation from home and family at a moment’s notice, with the threat of danger, including injury or death, as potential consequences (Cozza, Chun, & Polo, 2005). Other shared attributes include the masculine-dominated culture with traditional views of gender roles, long work hours, and having to be ready to deploy without prior notice (Rienerth, 1978). Although the reservists share these attributes, most reservist soldiers spend only a short time each month within the military community, while the rest of their time is spent as a civilian. With warfare, the potential of injury or death is a reality that soldiers and their families face. Today, there has been an increase in mental health and cognitive problems EFFECTS OF DEPLOYMENT ON COMMITTED 4 reported among troops returning from combat, which are likely due to extended deployments, higher rates of survivability from wounds, and more traumatic brain injuries (Tanielian, & Jaycox, 2008). With longer deployments and shorter rest periods between deployments, soldiers have been exposed to more frequent and prolonged stressors such as the danger of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and suicide bombers (Hoge et al., 2004). Killing an enemy, seeing a fellow soldier and friend dead or injured, having to handle human remains, and the feelings of helplessness associated with not being able to stop violent situations are also prolonged stressors that soldiers endure throughout deployment (Hoge et al., 2004). The current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq have the highest ratio of wounded to killed soldiers of any documented conflict (Tanielian, & Jaycox, 2008). Many soldiers who may have died from blood loss or other injuries in earlier conflicts are being saved due to advances in combat medicine and armor (Tanielian, & Jaycox, 2008). Of the large number of wounded soldiers returning home, many have experienced significant trauma, leaving emotional and cognitive injuries (Tanielian, & Jaycox, 2008). Traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been recorded in previous wars, but recent medical literature has highlighted the frequency of mild concussive injuries, which are common to blasts, motor vehicle accidents, falls, and any other sudden acceleration or deceleration of the brain (Tanielian, & Jaycox, 2008; Zillner, Spiers, & Culbertson, 2008). TBI is difficult to diagnose and distinguish from psychological co-morbid conditions, often leaving the injured with decreased levels of consciousness, amnesia, and other neurological abnormalities (Tanielian, & Jaycox, 2008). EFFECTS OF DEPLOYMENT ON COMMITTED 5 Emotional consequences of military induced separation for family members. The emotional consequences of separation are evidenced by the extended farewell ceremonies, lengthy displays of affection, and tears shed when a military unit departs its home station to begin deployment. Chambers (2009) described a number of major themes common to families that undergo military induced separation, such as grief, loss, fear of the unknown, as well as managing the impact on couple communication, dealing with the effects on family dynamics and functioning, finding and using new problem-focused coping stra