395P
The Role of Civilian Employment in Post-Deployment Relationship Satisfaction Among National Guard Couples
National Guard Service Members currently represent over 20% of the approximately 2.3 million serving in the US armed forces with approximately 220,000 having served in Operation Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom and New Dawn (OIF/OEF/OND) conflicts. Unlike “full-time” Active Duty soldiers, these “part-time” “citizen soldiers” must retain civilian employment throughout the deployment cycle. Meanwhile, they have experienced negative effects on mental health and family stability because of multiple and lengthy deployments and increased war-related traumatic experiences. Studies show that the association between employment and relationship satisfaction among couples is based on population- and event-specific contexts. However, not much is known about how the requirement to retain employment, through what is generally a very stressful deployment cycle, affects family stability among National Guard Service Members. The aim of this study is to assess the association between employment during the deployment cycle and relationship satisfaction among both National Guard Service Members and their intimate partners. We hypothesize that (1) the association between relationship satisfaction and employment will be different for National Guard Service Members and their intimate partners and (2) mental health characteristics, deployment stressors and instrumental and emotional resources will moderate these effects.
Methods
Participants were Army and Air National Guard Service Members (“guard members”) and their spouses or cohabitating partners (“partners”) following deployment in support of OIF/OEF/OND conflicts. One hundred fifty-six guard member/supporter couples (N=312) who attended the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program (YRRP) were surveyed approximately 2-4 months post-deployment. Couples were mostly White (95%), married (88%), in their 30s (Mean≅35.7, SD≅ 9.5), had 1 or more children (under age 18) (68%) who lived with them and 29% were unemployed by post-deployment. Bivariate statistics and a stepwise actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) were used to access relationship satisfaction among couples. APIM utilizes a two intercept approach using multilevel hierarchical modeling.
Results
In a model controlling mental health characteristics and deployment stressors, guard members had lower relationship satisfaction when partners were employed (β=-.30, t=1.98, p≤.05), however, this effect disappeared when social support and income were included in the model. In contrast to guard members, partners experienced higher levels of relationship satisfaction when they were employed (β=-.43, t=2.05, p≤.05). Social support on the part of guard members but not partners was also an important predictor of relationship satisfaction for both guard members and partners.
Conclusions
This study suggests that guard members are more concerned with stressors related to their partners employment status than their own. Employment by partners also leads to discordant levels of relationship satisfaction among National Guard couples. Further study is necessary to better understand how these “citizen soldiers” balance their own and their partner’s employment and family responsibilities at post-deployment.