ABSTRACT

Military deployments are known to be stressful for both military service members (SMs) and their romantic partners. Little is known about how coping strategies used during deployment may relate to one’s own and one’s partner’s relationship satisfaction following deployment. This project investigated the retrospective report of how 154 SMs and their romantic partners coped with deployment-related stress, using previously established coping constructs of problem-focused, emotion-focused, and avoidance coping. Examination of relative associations of coping strategies and mental health symptoms with SMs’ and partners’ relationship satisfaction showed that partners’ emotion-focused coping was positively related to both SMs’ and partners’ relationship satisfaction, whereas partners’ avoidance was negatively related to both their own and SMs’ relationship satisfaction. Results highlight the importance of partner coping within military couples and point to potential strategies for coping with deployment that are associated with enhanced relationship functioning after deployment.

摘要

众所周知，军事部署对士兵和他们的浪漫伴侣都是压力很大。关于部署期间使用的应对策略如何与部署后自己和伴侣的关系满意度之间的关系知之甚少。该项目使用先前建立的以问题为中心，以情绪为中心和回避应对的应对结构，调查了154名SM和他们的浪漫伴侣如何应对与部署相关的压力的回顾性报告。应对策略和心理健康症状与SM和伴侣关系满意度的相关性研究表明，伴侣的以情感为中心的应对与SM和伴侣的关系满意度呈正相关，而伙伴的回避与他们自己和SM的关系满意度都负相关。结果突出了在军事夫妇中应对伙伴的重要性，并指出了与部署有关的潜在策略，这些策略与部署后增强的关系功能相关。