Reserve Component

Background: Military deployment and combat are associated with worse outcomes, including alcohol misuse. Less is known about how these experiences affect soldiers’ spouses.

Individuals' alcohol use can be impacted by their spouses' alcohol use and certain characteristics their spouses may have. This study considered the impact of deployment and combat exposure on Soldiers' and their spouses' alcohol use.

Social relationships are important to health outcomes. The postdeployment family reintegration literature focuses on the role of the civilian family in facilitating the transition from Active Duty military deployment to civilian society.

Interview data from Reserve and Army National Guard men deployed in support of OIF/OEF were examined to explore the importance of military friendships during and after deployment.

Previous military family research has assumed a stable set of deployment phases. In line with critiques of such models within family communication, we identified the varied turning points and trajectories military spouses experience across deployment.

Retrospective interviews were conducted with Army and Army National Guard wives to identify turning points and trajectories of marital satisfaction across the deployment cycle.

Objective: Women veterans have a higher prevalence of chronic pain relative to men. One hypothesis is that differential combat and traumatic sexual experiences and attenuated levels of social support between men and women may differentially contribute to the development and perpetuation of pain.

Social support variables and traumatic experiences were examined as predictors of pain outcomes in a group of EF/OIF/OND Veterans experiencing chronic pain, with particular attention to whether these relationships differed between men and women.

Relationships are increasingly impacted by military involvement, necessitating a deeper understanding of communication within these couples.