Community, context, and coping: How social connections influence coping and well-being for military members and their spouses
Research Report:
Research SummaryAPA Citation:
O’Neal, C. W., Richardson, E. W., & Mancini, J. A. (2020). Community, Context, and Coping: How Social Connections Influence Coping and Well-Being for Military Members and Their Spouses. Family Process, 59(1), 158-172. https://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12395
Focus:
Couples
Mental health
Other
Parents
Branch of Service:
Army
Military Affiliation:
Active Duty
Subject Affiliation:
Active duty service member
Military families
Spouse of service member or veteran
Population:
Adulthood (18 yrs & older)
Thirties (30 - 39 yrs)
Methodology:
Cross-Sectional Study
Quantitative Study
Secondary Analysis
Authors:
O'Neal, Catherine Walker, Richardson, Evin W., Mancini, Jay A.
Abstract:
Military members and their spouses (n = 223 families) were selected from an Active Duty Army installation and assessed with regard to their connections with the military community, their levels of coping with military culture demands, and their reports of individual (depression and life satisfaction) and family well-being. Guided by the contextual model of family stress and the social organization theory of action and change, results from a structural equation model indicated that military community connections, for both military members and their civilian spouses, were related to coping with the military culture and its demands, which in turn was related to both individual and family well-being. Unique actor and partner effects also emerged where both active duty military members' and their civilian spouses' perceptions of military community connections influenced the civilian spouses' satisfaction with military life, but only the active duty military members' community connections influenced their military-specific coping. Additionally, the associations between military-specific coping and individual and family well-being only had actor effects. When examined within the context of important military culture elements, namely rank and extent of military transitions (deployment and relocation), these core findings linking communities to coping and well-being were unchanged. Implications for theory, future research, and practice are shared.
Publisher/Sponsoring Organization:
Wiley
Publication Type:
Article
REACH Publication
Author Affiliation:
Department of Human Development and Family Science, The University of Georgia, CWO
Department of Human Development and Family Science, The University of Georgia, EWR
Department of Human Development and Family Science, The University of Georgia, JAM
Keywords:
community connections, depressive symptoms, family functioning, life satisfaction, military families
REACH Publication Type:
Research Summary
Sponsors:
USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Award No. 2009‐48680‐06069 (PI: Jay A. Mancini).
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