The Effect of Separation on Marital Satisfaction, Depression, and Self-esteem

The marital dissatisfaction, depression, and self-esteem problems of 37 wives of naval personnel assigned to 4 submarines, who were each separated from their spouses for 14 weeks, were monitored biweekly, beginning 5 weeks before separation until 5 weeks following reunion. Hypothesized quadratic trends, as well as higher order trends, were found to be significant for each of the dependent variables. It was concluded that time-dependent fluctuations in marital dissatisfaction, depression, and self-esteem problems can be predicted relative to separation and reunion dates for individuals separated from their spouses for extended periods. The specific trends for each variable are fully discussed and should be of particular interest to social workers counseling couples faced with repeated job-related separations.