ABSTRACT

Background and Objectives

Transitioning from military to civilian life can be challenging for families, but most research focuses only on the service member. We applied a life course model to assess spouse well-being following this important transition.

Design

Prospective, longitudinal survey of service members and their spouses

Methods

We captured three spouse well-being domains: psychological health, physical health, and family relationships. We identified differences between families who separated from service and those still affiliated (N = 4,087) and assessed baseline factors associated with spouse well-being after the family separated from service (N = 1,199).

Results

Spouses of service members who had separated from the military (versus those who had not) reported poorer mental health and family relationship quality at baseline and follow-up. After controlling for baseline differences, spouses whose families transitioned experienced a greater increase in PTSD symptoms and a steeper decline in quality of marriage. Spouses of active-duty service members reported greater increases in work–family conflict. Among families who had transitioned, the most consistent predictor of positive outcomes was baseline well-being. Protective factors included having more psychological and social resources and less financial stress.

Conclusions

Several protective and risk factors identified in the study may inform programming for families transitioning from active duty.

中文翻译：

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家庭也服务：从现役服务分离后军人配偶的幸福

摘要

背景和目标

从军人生活过渡到平民生活对家庭来说可能具有挑战性，但大多数研究只关注服役人员。我们应用生命历程模型来评估这一重要转变后的配偶幸福感。

设计

对服役人员及其配偶进行前瞻性纵向调查

方法

我们捕获了三个配偶幸福领域：心理健康、身体健康和家庭关系。我们确定了与服务分离的家庭和仍然附属的家庭之间的差异（N  = 4,087），并评估了与服务分离后的配偶幸福感相关的基线因素（N  = 1,199）。

结果

与军队分开的服役人员的配偶（与那些没有分开的服役人员相比）在基线和随访中报告了较差的心理健康和家庭关系质量。在控制了基线差异后，家庭过渡的配偶经历了创伤后应激障碍症状的更大增加和婚姻质量的更急剧下降。现役军人的配偶报告说，工作-家庭冲突增加得更多。在已经过渡的家庭中，最一致的积极结果预测指标是基线幸福感。保护因素包​​括拥有更多的心理和社会资源以及更少的经济压力。

结论

研究中确定的几个保护和风险因素可能会为从现役过渡的家庭提供信息。