Military Spouse Appreciation Day is a nationally-recognized day that was established in 1999 and is acknowledged each year on the Friday before Mother’s Day. Military Spouse Appreciation Day recognizes the essential role military spouses have in supporting the military through strengthening their Service member partners. This crucial role can be difficult at times, so it is key to make sure military spouses develop the support they need to take on this role, such as benefit-finding, keeping in touch, and using available military resources.

Farnsworth, Meredith

MILITARY SPOUSES: DON’T FORGET TO TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF By: Meredith Farnsworth Military Spouse Appreciation Day is a nationally-recognized day that was established in 1999 and is acknowledged each year on the Friday before Mother’s Day. Military Spouse Appreciation Day recognizes the essential role military spouses have in supporting the military through strengthening their Service member partners. This crucial role can be difficult at times, so it is key to make sure military spouses develop the support they need to take on this role, such as benefit-finding, keeping in touch, and using available military resources. Benefit-finding When we get caught up in the stress and challenges of circumstances, such as parenting children, taking care of a home, or meeting deadlines at work, we often forget about all the things we like about it, and military life is no exception. Benefit-finding, or identifying the positive aspects of a circumstance, can help balance out the negative aspects of whatever we are dealing with. Some studies have found that people who engage in benefit-finding also report greater well-being. This research can be applied to all the military spouses out there. For instance, take time to identify some of the benefits of being a military spouse. Some benefits might include the unique cultivation of community and friendships that military life offers or the personal strength you’ve developed from overcoming challenges. Find a relevant place to write these benefits (like in a planner, journal, mirror, or on a note on an end table where you sit often) as a reminder to yourself when life becomes stressful and challenges present themselves again. Tip: Identifying benefits can be an individual or group activity with your spouse and/or family. They might have some ideas to share! Keep in Touch The hectic tasks of life can keep us isolated. Running errands, going to work, taking care of children, and completing various projects leaves limited time to connect with family and friends. It seems that when we need family and friends most, we don’t always reach out. However, keeping in touch with others is important. One study found that when military spouses experienced higher levels of anxiety or depression, they didn’t connect as frequently with their family and friends. So consider being more proactive in connecting with family and friends, especially when facing difficulties. Importantly, continue adding to the list of ways that you build your support system, as support figures can provide a variety of options for mitigating stressful circumstances! Tip: Instead of feeling the pressure to schedule hours of time with friends/family, pick up the phone for a quick check-in. Weekly check-ins with family and friends can keep us connected, even when life feels hectic. Use Available Military Resources As a military spouse, you’re busy keeping your family running smoothly, and that’s a tall order! Knowing what resources are available to military families and using available military resources can make your life a little easier. The number of various supports and services available to military families can be overwhelming. However, Military OneSource provides a great starting point for military spouses to compile a list of resources and services, as well as online tools. Tip: Download the free Military OneSource app to more efficiently find benefits tailored to you as a military spouse and chat with a MilLife expert at any time from within the app! Military spouses, remember to take care of yourself! Taking care of yourself is a critical component to ensure you and your Service member are ready to take the stressors of military life. So, don’t feel that spending time and effort on yourself is unproductive and invaluable. Even spending as little as 10 minutes at a time (such as listening to music, meditating, reading a few pages from a book, or benefit-finding) can help manage stress. Lastly, continue adding to the list of ways that you build your support system to provide lots of options for mitigating stressful circumstances!

Family Story

https://militaryreach.auburn.edu//ffMilitarySpousetakecareofyourself.jsp

https://aub.ie/MilitaryREACH-RossEtAl2020

Ross, A. M., Steketee, G., Emmert-Aronson, B. O., Brown, T. A., Muroff, J., & DeVoe, E. R. (2020). Stress-buffering versus support erosion: Comparison of causal models of the relationship between social support and psychological distress in military spouses. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 90(3), 361–373. https://doi.org/10.1037/ort0000438.

Social support can include social connectedness (i.e., contact with both formal and informal sources of social support), dyadic satisfaction (i.e., satisfaction with the support from one’s partner), and perceived social support (i.e., the level at which one believes they have someone to turn to in times of need). This study examined the link between social support and psychological well-being (i.e., anxiety and depressive symptoms) for 103 National Guard/Reserve military spouses by testing two competing hypotheses, the stress-buffering hypothesis and social erosion hypothesis. The stress-buffering hypothesis posits that social support protects individuals’ well-being from the detrimental effects of stress, whereas the support erosion hypothesis posits that psychological well-being concerns may reduce available social support. Longitudinal data (i.e., baseline and three-month follow up) were drawn from the Strong Families program. In support of the erosion hypothesis, military spouses’ psychological well-being at baseline was associated with their reduced social support three months later.

https://doi.org/10.1037/ort0000438

Couples
Mental health
Parents

Air Force
Army
Marine Corps
Navy
Multiple branches

Guard
Reserve

Spouse of service member or veteran

Adolescence (13 - 17 yrs)
Young adulthood (18 - 29 yrs)
Thirties (30 - 39 yrs)

Longitudinal Study
Quantitative Study
Secondary Analysis

Ross, Abigail M., Steketee, Gail, Emmert-Aronson, Benjamin O., Brown, Timothy A., Muroff, Jordana, DeVoe, Ellen R.

Spouses of National Guard/Reserve (NG/R) military service members cope with deployment-related stressors (DRS) that may contribute to increased psychological distress. Research indicates that higher levels of social support are associated with reduced depression and anxiety in military spouses, but longitudinal relationships have not yet been examined bidirectionally. This study examines temporal relationships between 3 dimensions of social support (social connectedness, dyadic satisfaction, and perceived support), and psychological distress in a sample of NG/R spouses during the first year after a service member returns from deployment. Data from 103 military spouses were drawn from a larger intervention development study. Autoregressive cross-lagged panel analyses examined the stress-buffering and support erosion hypotheses over a 3-month period. DRS were measured by the cumulative number of deployments and duration of most recent deployment. Distress was assessed using latent variables of depression and anxiety. Statistically significant relationships emerged between initial levels of psychological distress and social connectedness at 3 months. Social support dimensions of dyadic satisfaction and perceived support did not predict subsequent levels of psychological distress. No significant relationships emerged between any dimension of social support at baseline and either form of psychological distress at 3 months. The support erosion hypothesis may more accurately describe the relationship between social support and psychological distress in this sample than the stress-buffering mechanism. During the first year of reintegration, social connectedness may be of particular relevance for NG/R spouses, as they may not have access to supports typically available to their active duty counterparts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)

Educational Publishing Foundation

Article
REACH Publication

Graduate School of Social Service, Fordham University, AMR
School of Social Work, Boston University, GS
Open Source Wellness, BOEA
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, TAB
School of Social Work, Boston University, JM
School of Social Work, Boston University, ERD