Abstract: Correlates of Resilience Among Army Wives Whose Spouses Have Deployed (Society for Social Work and Research 20th Annual Conference - Grand Challenges for Social Work: Setting a Research Agenda for the Future)

Schedule:

Sunday, January 17, 2016: 9:00 AM

Meeting Room Level-Meeting Room 3 (Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown Hotel)

* noted as presenting author

Abby L. Carr, BA, Research Assistant, Walter Reed Army Instistue of Research, Silver Spring, MD

Kristina Clarke-Walper, MPH, Research Associate, Walter Reed Army Instistue of Research, Silver Spring, MD

Lyndon A. Riviere, PhD, Research Psychologist, Walter Reed Army Instistue of Research, Silver Spring, MD

Phillip J. Quartana, PhD, Research Psychologist, Walter Reed Army Instistue of Research, Silver Spring, MD

Background and purpose: For the spouse who remains at home, the deployment of a service member may rank as one of the most significant stressors among the several unique military demands that they face. While resilience is considered an important attribute for successfully coping with life demands, such as spouse deployment, no studies could be found that has characterized resilience among military spouses. The main aim of this study is to determine the association between the self-reported resilience of Army wives who have experienced a deployment with their demographic and psychosocial factors.

Methods: Confidential, cross-sectional survey data were collected from a sample of Army wives as part of the Land Combat Study whose soldier spouses have deployed (N=277). Survey items asked about resilience, mental health, as well as demographic and other psychosocial factors (e.g., social support, marital satisfaction).

Results: Preliminary bivariate results indicate that spouses with significantly higher resilience scores are white (F=4.460, p<0.05), have higher education (F=4.290, p<0.05), are married to officers (F=4.058, p<0.05), have children (F=4.956, p<0.05), rate their health as being good or better (F=27.545, p<0.01), do not think their spouse needs mental health treatment, (F=4.073, p<0.01) and received reintegration training (F=4.482, p<0.05). Resilience was positively correlated with social support (r=0.33, p<0.01) and marital satisfaction(r=0.27, p<0.01) and negatively correlated with sleep disturbance (r=-0.34, p<0.01) and psychological symptoms (r=-0.44, p<0.01). When all variables were entered in a multiple regression model, higher education (b=0.166, t=2.229, p<0.05), having children (b=0.219, t =2.354, p<0.05), rating your health as being good or better (b=0.294, t =2.014, p<0.05), having more social support (b=0.040, t =2.002, p<0.05), and fewer psychological symptoms (b=-0.233, t =-3.124, p<0.01) were found to have significant effects on resilience score.

Conclusions and implications: This is the first study that we know of to characterize resilience in military spouses who have experienced the deployment of their soldier spouse. The main findings reveal that among the significant correlates of resilience, social support may be the most modifiable. Future training efforts to enhance resilience among the population studied should take this into consideration.