Deployment-related coping strategies in military couples: Associations with relationship satisfaction

  • Giff, S. T., Renshaw, K. D., Carter, S. P., & Paige, L. C. (2020). Deployment-related coping strategies in military couples: Associations with relationship satisfaction. Military Psychology, 32(6), 432-440. https://doi.org/10.1080/08995605.2020.1803725
  • Using a sample of National Guard/Reserve Service members (n = 154) and their romantic partners (n = 151) who experienced a deployment, this study examined the association between coping and relationship satisfaction while accounting for mental health (i.e., Service members’ posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD] and partners’ psychological distress [i.e., depression, anxiety, and stress]). More specifically, three different forms of coping were explored for both partners: problem-focused (i.e., when an individual tries to change a stressor), emotion-focused (i.e., managing one’s own emotional reaction to the stressor), and avoidance (i.e., avoiding the stressor). Higher levels of romantic partners’ emotion-focused coping were associated with increased relationship satisfaction, whereas avoidance coping was associated with lower relationship satisfaction for both Service members and romantic partners.

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Research summaries convey terminology used by the scientists who authored the original research article; some terminology may not align with the federal government's mandated language for certain constructs.

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