TY - JOUR
T1 - Relationship changes of military couples during reintegration
T2 - A longitudinal analysis
AU - Knobloch-Fedders, Lynne M.
AU - Knobloch, Leanne K.
AU - Scott, Samantha
AU - Fiore, Hannah
N1 - The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported by the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs through the Military Operational Medicine Research Program (Award W81XWH-14-2-0131). The U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity, 820 Chandler Street, Fort Detrick MD 21702-5014, was the awarding and administering acquisition office. Interpretations, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the authors and are not necessarily endorsed by the U.S. Department of Defense.
The authors thank Jeremy B. Yorgason for his feedback on an earlier version of this article, and Kaitlyn Bellingar, Karl Briedrick, Chrishane Cunningham, Daphne Liu, Alexandra Maynard, Alexis Meade, Kathleen Pell-King, and Jacqueline Wong for their assistance in coding. The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported by the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs through the Military Operational Medicine Research Program (Award W81XWH-14-2-0131). The U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity, 820 Chandler Street, Fort Detrick MD 21702-5014, was the awarding and administering acquisition office. Interpretations, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the authors and are not necessarily endorsed by the U.S. Department of Defense.
As part of IARR’s encouragement of open research practices, the author(s) have provided the following information: This research was pre-registered. The aspects of the research that were pre-registered were the study design and methods. The registration was submitted via a funded grant application to the Military Operational Medicine Research Program of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (Award W81XWH-14-2-0131). The data used in the research are not available. The materials used in the research are available. The materials can be obtained by emailing: [email protected] .
PY - 2020/7/1
Y1 - 2020/7/1
N2 - This study drew on the emotional cycle of deployment model to track the content, valence, and sequence of relationship changes experienced by returning service members and at-home partners during the transition from deployment to reintegration. In a longitudinal study, 555 military couples (1,100 individuals) wrote 7,387 comments describing changes that had occurred in their relationship during the past month. A content analysis identified 10 substantive categories: emotional intimacy, sexual intimacy, spending time together, appraisals of the relationship, life changes, readjustment to daily life, conflict, family changes, commitment, and reports of no change. The frequency of changes reported in emotional intimacy, sexual intimacy, readjustment to daily life, and conflict declined across the transition. In contrast, reports of life changes, and comments stating that no change had occurred, increased over time. Independent coders judged each change as positive (42.1%), negative (32.4%), or neutral (25.5%) in valence. Participants described fewer positive changes as the transition progressed, although this tendency slowed over time. In contrast, the frequency of negative changes remained stable across the transition, and the frequency of neutral changes increased. The findings are used to advance theory, research, policy, and intervention designed to help military couples negotiate relationship changes across the post-deployment transition.
AB - This study drew on the emotional cycle of deployment model to track the content, valence, and sequence of relationship changes experienced by returning service members and at-home partners during the transition from deployment to reintegration. In a longitudinal study, 555 military couples (1,100 individuals) wrote 7,387 comments describing changes that had occurred in their relationship during the past month. A content analysis identified 10 substantive categories: emotional intimacy, sexual intimacy, spending time together, appraisals of the relationship, life changes, readjustment to daily life, conflict, family changes, commitment, and reports of no change. The frequency of changes reported in emotional intimacy, sexual intimacy, readjustment to daily life, and conflict declined across the transition. In contrast, reports of life changes, and comments stating that no change had occurred, increased over time. Independent coders judged each change as positive (42.1%), negative (32.4%), or neutral (25.5%) in valence. Participants described fewer positive changes as the transition progressed, although this tendency slowed over time. In contrast, the frequency of negative changes remained stable across the transition, and the frequency of neutral changes increased. The findings are used to advance theory, research, policy, and intervention designed to help military couples negotiate relationship changes across the post-deployment transition.
KW - Deployment
KW - dyadic data analysis
KW - military couples
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85084084686
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85084084686#tab=citedBy
U2 - 10.1177/0265407520917461
DO - 10.1177/0265407520917461
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85084084686
SN - 0265-4075
VL - 37
SP - 2145
EP - 2165
JO - Journal of Social and Personal Relationships
JF - Journal of Social and Personal Relationships
IS - 7
ER -