Depressive Symptoms, Relational Turbulence, and the Reintegration Difficulty of Military Couples Following Wartime Deployment

During reunion following wartime deployment, military couples are at risk for both depression and relationship distress (Bowling & Sherman, 2008). This article applies the relational turbulence model ( Knobloch & Theiss, 2011a ; Solomon & Theiss, 2011 ) to understand the difficulty milit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Health communication 2013-11, Vol.28 (8), p.754-766
Main Authors: Knobloch, Leanne K., Ebata, Aaron T., McGlaughlin, Patricia C., Ogolsky, Brian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Armed forces
Couples
Deployment
Depression
Depressive Disorder - psychology
Female
Humans
Integration
Internet
Male
Mental depression
Middle Aged
Military Personnel - psychology
Models, Psychological
Reintegration
Reunion
Risk assessment
Spouses - psychology
Stress, Psychological - psychology
Surveys and Questionnaires
Turbulence models
United States
Wellbeing
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Summary:During reunion following wartime deployment, military couples are at risk for both depression and relationship distress (Bowling & Sherman, 2008). This article applies the relational turbulence model ( Knobloch & Theiss, 2011a ; Solomon & Theiss, 2011 ) to understand the difficulty military couples may experience upon homecoming. One hundred and eighteen military couples completed an online questionnaire once per month for the first 3 months upon reunion following wartime deployment. Multilevel modeling results indicated that people's depressive symptoms (H1), relational uncertainty (H2), and interference from partners (H3) predicted their difficulty with reintegration. A few partner effects were apparent as well. These findings illuminate the dynamics of the reunion period, extend the relational turbulence model, and suggest guidelines for helping military couples preserve well-being during reintegration following wartime deployment.
ISSN:1041-0236
1532-7027
DOI:10.1080/10410236.2013.800440