Development of a Measure of Family Adaption to the Army

This research supports The Army Family Action Plans by developing a measurement model and a set of scales that identify the factors associated with family strengths and family adaptation to the military. It provides data on how to develop programs and services that assist families in making adjustments to military demands. The data for this report were collected from a randomly selected sample of 11,035 soldiers in 1989. The analysis was conducted on 6,706 married soldiers who were living with their spouses. Researchers developed a model of the relationships between family conditions, family strengths, and identified the appropriate variables associated with these constructs. They used structural modeling to analyze the data and optimize the fit between the proposed variables and the hypothesized relationships and constructs. Based on the final model, two scales were constructed. The family strengths scale indicates a family's ability to cope with demands. The family adaptation scale indicates the family's adjustment to organizational demands. The findings were interpreted in terms of their value to military researchers, service providers, and policy makers. Researchers can use the new measures to assess the strengths and adaptability of the military families in their investigations. Policy makers can use the data to establish unit, installation, or service-wide policies that strengthen the abilities of families to meet their needs and adapt to military demands and contingencies.