Communication of military couples during deployment predicting generalized anxiety upon reunion

This study draws on the emotional cycle of deployment model (Pincus, House, Christenson, & Adler, 2001) to consider how the valence of communication between military personnel and at-home partners during deployment predicts their generalized anxiety upon reunion. Online survey data were collected from 555 military couples (N = 1,110 individuals) once per month for 8 consecutive months beginning at homecoming. Dyadic growth curve modeling results indicated that people’s anxiety declined across the transition. For at-home partners, constructive communication during deployment predicted a steeper decline in anxiety over time. For both returning service members and at-home partners, destructive communication during deployment predicted more anxiety upon reunion but a steeper decline in anxiety over time. Results were robust beyond the frequency of communication during deployment and a host of individual, relational, and military variables. These findings advance the emotional cycle of deployment model, highlight the importance of the valence of communication during deployment, and illuminate how the effects of communication during deployment can endure after military couples are reunited

Mental Health Symptoms and The Reintegration Difficulty of Military Couples Following Deployment: A Longitudinal Application of The Relational Turbulence Model

Objective Understanding the factors that predict the reintegration difficulty of military couples during the postdeployment transition has important implications for theory, research, and practice. Building on the logic of the relational turbulence model, this paper evaluates the relationship processes of reunion uncertainty and reintegration interference from a partner as mediators of the connection between people\u27s mental health symptoms and their difficulty with reintegration after deployment. Method Dyadic longitudinal data were collected from 555 US military couples once per month for 8 consecutive months. Results Findings mapped the trajectory of reintegration difficulty and suggested reunion uncertainty and reintegration interference from a partner as mediators of the link between people\u27s depressive and posttraumatic stress symptoms and the magnitude of their reintegration difficulty. Conclusion These results highlight relationship processes as a key domain of intervention to preserve the well‐being of military couples during the postdeployment transition

Military Children’s Difficulty with Reintegration after Deployment: A Relational Turbulence Model Perspective

This study drew on the relational turbulence model to investigate how the interpersonal dynamics of military couples predict parents’ reports of the reintegration difficulty of military children upon homecoming after deployment. Longitudinal data were collected from 118 military couples once per month for 3 consecutive months after reunion. Military couples reported on their depressive symptoms, characteristics of their romantic relationship, and the reintegration difficulty of their oldest child. Results of dyadic growth curve models indicated that the mean levels of parents’ depressive symptoms (H1), relationship uncertainty (H2), and interference from a partner (H3) were positively associated with parents’ reports of military children’s reintegration difficulty. These findings suggest that the relational turbulence model has utility for illuminating the reintegration difficulty of military children during the postdeployment transition

Feminism and Couple Finance: Power as a Mediator Between Financial Processes and Relationship Outcomes

Feminism is rarely used as a theoretical framework for couple finance research. The purposes of the present paper are (a) to discuss couple finance research in the context of feminism to encourage more frequent and explicit use of feminism in couple finance research, (b) to present a gender and couple finances model, and (c) to test this model with longitudinal dyadic data. Using actor-partner interdependence models (APIM) and data from 327U.S. mixed-gender couples, relational power was explored as a potential mediator between four couple financial processes (earners of money, access to money, management of money, and conflict about money) and two relationship outcomes (relationship quality and relationship stability). Results suggest that couple financial processes are associated with relationship outcomes and with joint management as well as low conflict being key longitudinally. Additionally, although power may not play a mediating role, it appears to be connected to couple financial processes and relationship outcomes concurrently. Gender differences as well as both actor and partner effects are explored. This research has implications for researchers, clinicians, and educators. For example, clinicians may want to encourage their clients to use joint bank accounts, manage their money jointly, and minimize financial conflict. Gender, and therefore power, are inseparably tied to couple finances. When both spouses are involved in financial processes, partners tend to be more empowered, and relationship quality and stability tend to be higher.12 month embargo; published online: 26 November 2018This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

The Budget and the Bedroom: Associations between Financial Management Behaviors, Perceptions of Economic Pressure, and Sexual Satisfaction

Although money and sex are both salient to romantic relationships, previous literature has rarely examined the association between the two. In the current study, we evaluate associations between financial management behaviors, perceptions of economic pressure, and sexual satisfaction. We used nationally representative opposite-sex newlywed dyadic data (N = 1,447 couples) and an actor-partner interdependent structural equation model to test these associations. Results indicate that as financial therapists aid opposite-sex newlywed clients in their financial management, they may also be lessening perceptions of economic pressure. For wives, this lessening of perceptions of economic pressure may benefit husbands’ and wives’ sexual satisfaction. Financial therapists may consider using these findings to encourage opposite-sex newlywed clients to practice healthy financial management behaviors and communicate about finances and sex. In short, our findings suggest that for opposite-sex newlywed couples, the budget may have something to do with the bedroom

Spenders and Tightwads Among Newlyweds: Perceptions of Partner Financial Behaviors and Relational Well-Being

Finances, and how couples manage their finances, can have important implications for couples’ relational well-being. Using data from 1,585 couples that participated in the CREATE study (a nationally representative dyadic dataset of U.S. newlywed couples), we examined how perceiving one’s spouse as a financial spender (i.e., spending more than they ideally would) or financial tightwad (i.e., spending less than they ideally would) was associated with several measures of relational well-being (i.e., satisfaction, commitment, and power) through actor-partner interdependence structural equation models. Results showed that perceiving one’s partner as a spender was detrimental for both the individual’s and the partner’s marital satisfaction, marital commitment, and marital power. Perceiving one’s partner as a tightwad was detrimental for both the individual’s and the partner’s marital commitment and marital power. The findings suggest that interventions focused on perceptions of financial management behaviors may help strengthen relational well-being among newlyweds

Ecological Momentary Assessment of Older Women\u27s Health

Living with chronic co-morbidities implies long-lasting, always present conditions associated with highly variable health trajectories. In this study, ecological momentary assessment was used to explore nine older women\u27s experiences of living with co-morbidities. Each participant completed a daily diary, which focused on 10 variables related to energy, pain, effort expended, and an overall health rating, for 21 days. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to explore intra-individual variation in daily health experiences and health-related burden, and determine the extent to which health-related burden was related to daily health experiences. Each of the daily health experience variables sipiificantly predicted health-related burden. Over half of the variation was attributed to the predictor variables. These findings reveal the dynamic nature of living with multiple chronic conditions and demonstrate the utility of daily diaries for measuring fluctuating states of health in community-dwelling older wofnen

The ABC-X’s of Stress among U.S. Emerging Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Relationship Quality, Financial Distress, and Mental Health

Many emerging adults have experienced increased financial distress and mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic, and isolation may have amplified the importance of close relationships (especially as parents’ influence diminishes during this developmental stage). Using the ABC-X Model to frame our model, we tested whether financial distress (C) mediates the associations between COVID-19 impact (A) and anxiety and depressive symptoms (X), and whether or not romantic relationship quality (B) moderates these indirect associations. Our sample comprised of 1950 U.S. emerging adults in a romantic relationship. Mediation and first-stage moderated mediation were tested using structural equation modeling. Financial distress partially mediated the association between COVID-19 impact and anxiety symptoms and fully mediated the association between COVID-19 impact and depressive symptoms. Strong evidence of moderated mediation was found but in the opposite direction expected: the indirect associations of COVID-19 impact with anxiety and depressive symptoms (through financial distress) were stronger for those in high-quality romantic relationships. The findings may inform policy and practice aimed at optimizing the mental health of emerging adults, especially in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic: specifically, alleviating financial distress may improve the mental health of emerging adults, while focusing on the quality of their romantic relationships may not

Couple-Level Attachment Styles, Finances, and Marital Satisfaction: Mediational Analyses Among Young Adult Newlywed Couples

Guided by attachment theory and the Vulnerability-Stress-Adaptation model, we used three-annual-wave, dyadic data from a nationally representative sample of 1136 young-adult newlywed couples to investigate two research aims. First, we conducted a Latent Profile Analysis to identify couple-level attachment styles at Time 1 (i.e., within the first 2 years of marriage) based on the combination of husbands’ and wives’ attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance. Second, after conceptualizing couple-level attachment styles at Time 1 as vulnerability, we then examined whether finance-specific adaptive processes at Time 2 (i.e., 1 year after Time 1) mediated associations from couple-level attachment styles at Time 1 to marital satisfaction at Time 3 (i.e., 1 year after Time 2). Several findings are noteworthy. First, four different types of couple-level attachment styles were found. Second, for mediators, only perceived partner financial mismanagement mediated associations from couple-level attachment styles at Time 1 to marital satisfaction at Time 3. We discuss how the four different couple-level styles highlight the diversity and complexity in how the two partners’ attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance combine together as well as why perceived partner financial mismanagement (i.e., the lack of adaptive processes) mediated associations between couple-level attachment styles and marital satisfaction.12 month embargo; published: 17 November 2021This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]