Families serve too: military spouse well-being after separation from active-duty service

Abstract

Background and objectives: Transitioning from military to civilian life can be challenging for families, but most research focuses only on the service member. We applied a life course model to assess spouse well-being following this important transition.

Design: Prospective, longitudinal survey of service members and their spouses.

Methods: We captured three spouse well-being domains: psychological health, physical health, and family relationships. We identified differences between families who separated from service and those still affiliated (N = 4,087) and assessed baseline factors associated with spouse well-being after the family separated from service (N = 1,199).

Results: Spouses of service members who had separated from the military (versus those who had not) reported poorer mental health and family relationship quality at baseline and follow-up. After controlling for baseline differences, spouses whose families transitioned experienced a greater increase in PTSD symptoms and a steeper decline in quality of marriage. Spouses of active-duty service members reported greater increases in work-family conflict. Among families who had transitioned, the most consistent predictor of positive outcomes was baseline well-being. Protective factors included having more psychological and social resources and less financial stress.

Conclusions: Several protective and risk factors identified in the study may inform programming for families transitioning from active duty.

Keywords: Well-being; health; military family; military spouses; transition.