Ambiguous Absence, Ambiguous Presence: A Qualitative Study of Military Reserve Families in Wartime

Army Reservists and their family members were interviewed seven times over the first year of the Reservists’ return from Iraq. The authors examine families' experiences of three types of ambiguity: ambiguous absence (being physically absent but psychologically present), ambiguous presence (being physically present but psychologically absent), and boundary ambiguity (uncertainty of perceptions concerning family and roles and tasks within family).