Publication year
2016
Citation Title
Boundary ambiguity and ambivalence in military family reintegration.
Journal Name
Family Relations
Journal Volume
65
Issue Number
4
Page Numbers
603-615
DOI
10.1111/fare.12207
Summary
Service members' family functioning may be negatively affected following the return of a Service member. This study examined if Service members' perceived ambivalence related to family, deployment, and boundary ambiguity (e.g., poorly defined family roles) were related to family functioning. Findings revealed that family-related ambivalence, boundary ambiguity, rank, time spent at home, and gender were all related to perceived family functioning.
Key Findings
Service members who reported greater family-related ambivalence post-deployment (e.g., mixed emotions in readjusting to family life) indicated poorer family functioning (e.g., impaired decision making or coping).
Post-deployment family functioning was poorer among Service members who had greater boundary ambiguity (e.g., unclear household roles), were from lower military ranks, and had spent more time at home.
Female Service members who experienced greater work- and family-related ambivalence reported poorer family functioning than male Service members.
Implications for Program Leaders
Provide education on how military families can adjust family roles and boundaries during reintegration to help families adjust to the Service member's return
Disseminate information regarding coping skills and decision making for Service members and families to help promote positive family functioning
Engage Service members and their families in classes that aim to increase communication and conflict-resolution skills prior to and after deployment
Implications for Policy Makers
Promote reintegration programs that include assistance to Service members and their families as they adjust to the Service member’s return
Continue to support programs that address the unique challenges faced by low-ranking Service members and female Service members in particular
Encourage the development and continuation of programs that can promote and support positive family functioning in Service members, their partners and children, especially over an extended period of time
Methods
Surveys were distributed to military families attending Operation: Military Kids, National Guard Yellow Ribbon Program events, and through email by military service providers.
Military families' perceptions of stress related to household roles (i.e., boundary ambiguity), attitudes regarding deployment and family (i.e., ambivalence), and family functioning during post-deployment were assessed.
Data were analyzed to examine the relationship of military families' external (e.g., rank, length of deployment) and internal (i.e., boundary ambiguity and ambivalence) factors related to family functioning.
Participants
The sample included 228 Service members (213 male; 15 female) with an average age of 35 years (SD = 7.8, range = 21-55 years).
Participants were primarily White (n = 195, 86%), had been in a romantic relationship for 10 or more years (n = 123, 54%), and had on average two children per family (SD = 1.09, range = 1-5).
While the sample included Active Duty, National Guard, and Reserve component military personnel, 126 (55%) participants belonged to the Army National Guard.
Limitations
Study measures were limited due to secondary data collection, thus measures may have not adequately captured full perceptions of family functioning, boundary ambiguity, and ambivalence among Service members.
The sample for this study only included Service members, therefore study findings are limited to an individual's perspective and not the whole military family.
A majority of participants were part of the Army National Guard, which limits the generalizability of the study's findings to other military components and branches.
Avenues for Future Research
Assess how Service members perceive boundary ambiguity and ambivalence in order to further develop measures in this area of research
Explore additional factors that may connect ambivalence with military family functioning, such as family decision making
Examine perceptions of boundary ambiguity, ambivalence, and family functioning among all members of a military family
Focus
Multiple Branches
Target Population
Population Focus
Military Branch
Military Component
Abstract
Although more than two million service members have experienced deployment since 2001, predictors of postdeployment family functioning remain unclear. Utilizing the Contextual Model of Family Stress (Boss, 2002), this study examined military-related factors (e.g., rank, component, combat exposure, postdeployment time at home, cumulative length of deployments), boundary ambiguity, and family- and deployment-related ambivalence as predictors of family functioning during reintegration. Service members (N = 228) from multiple branches of the U.S. military participated in a national survey related to family relationships and support programming. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that service members from lower ranks, who were home for longer periods of time, and who endorsed higher degrees of boundary ambiguity and family-related ambivalence reported poorer family functioning. Results emphasize the relevance of boundary ambiguity and family-related ambivalence to the reintegration process and can inform prevention and intervention efforts that promote family well-being in the military population during the critical postdeployment period.
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