Family Stressors and Resources: Relationships with Depressive Symptoms in Military Couples During Pre‐Deployment

• Author: Shelley M. MacDermid Wadsworth,Kyung‐Hee Lee,Christina L. Collins
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12251
• Published date: 01 April 2017
• Date: 01 April 2017

C L. C, K-H L,  S M. MD W

Purdue University

Family Stressors and Resources: Relationships with

Depressive Symptoms in Military Couples During

Pre-Deployment

Objective: To evaluate family-related stressors

and resources associated with the depres-

sive symptoms of military members and their

spouses.

Background: Most deployment-relatedresearch

has focused on deployment and reintegration,

but there is a dearth of information about

military families during the pre-deployment

phase. Family stress theory provided a valuable

lens from which to view family-related risk and

protective factors associated with adaptation

during times of stressful transition.

Method: Data were gathered using an online

survey from 151 U.S. Army National Guard

members and their spouses preparing for a

scheduled deployment. Hierarchical regression

was utilized to examine associations between the

independent variables (e.g., stress pileup, infor-

mal and formal resources, deployment prepara-

tion) and participants’ depressive symptoms.

Results: Results revealed that aspects of stress

pileup were positively associated with depres-

sive symptoms. Informal resources and deploy-

ment preparation, but not formal resources, had

statistically signicant negative associations

Department of Human Development and Family Studies,

HNLY 210 1202 W. State St., West Lafayette, IN 47907

(collin67@purdue.edu).

Key Words: Depression, family strengths, family stress the-

ory, stress and coping.

with individuals’ depressive symptoms. Findings

were similar for military members and spouses.

Conclusion: Results indicated that logistical

and instrumental preparation, in addition to

informal resources such as effective family

functioning and social support, are important

for positive adaptation in times of stressful

transition.

Implications: Family service professionalsmay

want to assist families with identifying and

strengthening their family support and improv-

ing family functioning, as well as guide families

in a process of identifying the instrumental and

logistical tasks that are necessary or helpful for

an impending transition.

B

Although military deployments to combat zones

during the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

have often been presumed to be stressful expe-

riences for service members and their families,

current evidence suggests that most families

weather them without long-term negative con-

sequences. For example, most service members

do not report serious physical or psychological

injuries, most marriages persist, and most chil-

dren do not display meaningful disruptions in

academic performance (Institute of Medicine,

2010). Nonetheless, a substantial proportion

of service members and family members do

report one or more difculties. For example,

one-third of service members deployed to

302 Family Relations 66 (April 2017): 302–316

DOI:10.1111/fare.12251