Daily Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Accommodation and Relationship Functioning in Military Couples

• Author: Sarah B. Campbell,Keith D. Renshaw
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12393
• Published date: 01 December 2019
• Date: 01 December 2019

Daily Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom

Accommodation and Relationship Functioning in

Military Couples

SARAH B. CAMPBELL*

,†

KEITH D. RENSHAW

‡

Romantic partners’ accommodation of trauma survivors’ posttraumatic stress disorder

(PTSD) symptoms (e.g., taking on tasks, survivors avoid participating in social with-

drawal) is associated with lower relationship satisfaction for both partners and survivors.

Little is known about associations of partner accommodation with other aspects of relation-

ship functioning, like intimacy. Sixty-four male military veterans with at least subclin ical

PTSD and their partners participated in a 2-week daily diary study. Veterans completed

nightly measures of PTSD symptoms, while female partners completed nightly measures of

accommodating behaviors performed that day. Both partners reported feelings of intim acy

each night. Multilevel models revealed that accommodation was significantly, negatively

associated with feelings of intimacy, with stronger effects for partners (t=8.70) than for

veterans (t=5.40), and stronger effects when veterans had lower (t=7.43) rather than

higher (t=5.20) levels of daily PTSD symptoms. Therapists should consider accommo-

dating behaviors as a potential impediment to relationship intimacy, particularly when

veterans have less severe symptoms of PTSD. Accommodating behaviors are an ideal treat-

ment target in behavioral couple therapies.

Keywords: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder; Romantic Relationships; Accommodation;

Intimacy

Fam Proc 58:908–919, 2019

INTRODUCTION

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with poorer relationship functioning

for both trauma survivors and their partners (Lambert, Engh, Hasbun, & Holzer,

2012; Taft, Watkins, Stafford, Street, & Monson, 2011). Researchers have identified sur-

vivors’ increased irritability and conflict, emotional withdrawal, and impaired communi-

cation as potential contributors to these associations (review by Campbell & Renshaw,

2016). More recently, researchers have begun to examine partners’ behaviors in this con-

text, with particular attention to partners’ behavioral accommodation of survivors’ PTSD

symptoms.

*Seattle Division, VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, WA.

†

University of Washington, Seattle, WA.

‡

George Mason University, Fairfax, VA.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Sarah B. Campbell, Seattle Division, VA

Puget Sound Health Care System, 116 MHC, 1660 South Columbian Way, Seattle, WA 98108. E-mail:

sarah.campbell6@va.gov.

This research was supported in part by funding from the NIH/NIMH # F31MH098581 and by the Inter-

national Society of Traumatic Stress Studies and the American Psychological Foundation.

908

Family Process, Vol. 58, No. 4, 2019 ©2018 Family Process Institute

doi: 10.1111/famp.12393