Communication and the Coping Paradox: The Case of Army Spouses and Wartime Deployment

This study explores the concept of the coping paradox within the context of military families and wartime deployment. A coping paradox occurs when the sending or receiving of a message meant to cope with stress leads to outcomes that are contrary to expectations. Based on interviews with 40 military wives whose husbands deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, we identified six paradoxical pairings of particular stressors and coping strategies. By understanding that these paradoxes are context and time dependent, family members may recognize the paradox is not indicative of a problem with the relationship, instead, it is an outcome of the situation and, thus, may not reoccur when the family is out of the stressful situation.