Trauma Symptoms, Communication, and Relationship Satisfaction in Military Couples

• Published date: 01 March 2018
• Author: Annabel McGuire,W. Kim Halford,Melissa Bakhurst
• Date: 01 March 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12285

Trauma Symptoms, Communication, and

Relationship Satisfaction in Military Couples

MELISSA BAKHURST

ANNABEL MCGUIRE

W. KIM HALFORD

Trauma symptoms are negatively correlated with couple relationship satisfaction, which

is of particular importance in the relationships of military personnel who are often exposed

to trauma whilst on overseas deployment. This study tested a model in which communica-

tion mediated an association between trauma symptoms and low relationship satisfaction.

Thirty-one Australian military couples were observationally assessed during a communi-

cation task, and assessed on their relationship satisfaction and individual functioning. As

expected, trauma symptoms in the male military spouse were associated with low satis fac-

tion in both spouses. Females’ low positive communication fully mediated the relationship

between males’ trauma symptoms and low female satisfaction, but not male relationshi p

satisfaction. Unexpectedly, males’ negative communication behaviors were associated with

high male relationship satisfaction, and partially mediated the association between

trauma symptoms and male satisfaction. Discussion focused on how some communication

usually thought of as negative might be associated with relationship satisfaction in mili-

tary couples.

Keywords: Relationship Satisfaction; Couples; Posttraumatic Stress; Communication;

Military

Fam Proc 57:241–252, 2018

Relationship education (RE) programs aim to enhance couple relationships by facilitat-

ing the development of skills that couples can use to maintain satisfaction in the long-

term. Although the content of RE varies between programs (Bodenmann & Shantinath,

2004; Halford et al., 2006; Markman, Stanley, & Blumberg, 2010), almost all RE programs

place significant emphasis on communication skills. Couple communication is thought to

be associated with relationship satisfaction (Woodin, 2011). Communication skills might

be of particular importance to couples struggling with the distinctive challenges of the mil-

itary lifestyle.

Between 2001 and 2013, large numbers of troops from the US, UK, and Australian

armed forces deployed to conflicts in the Middle East (de Burgh, White, Fear, & Iversen,

2011). During this period, more military personnel experienced multiple deploym ents

(Kline et al., 2010) and were deployed more frequently (Rona et al., 2007) than in prior

conflicts. Everyday deployment stressors, paired with exposure to combat and traumatic

The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld, Australia.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Melissa Bakhurst, School of Psychology,

The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Qld 4072, Australia. E-mail: m.bakhurst@uq.edu.au

We would like to thank the Australian Defence Force for their ongoing support and assistance in the

conduct of this research. Thank you also to research assistants Paige Ebersohn and Freya Young for their

work coding the observational communication data.

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Family Process, Vol. 57, No. 1, 2018 ©2017 Family Process Institute

doi: 10.1111/famp.12285