“In light of technological advances enabling military couples to communicate throughout deployment, spouses of deployed service members often make decisions about what to share with service members, and how to respond to service members’ concerns. In doing so, they manage an emotional boundary between service members and their families.”
Publications
Information about selected journal articles, papers, and other documents authored or formally reviewed by MFRI researchers and other staff:
Reaching rural veterans: A new mechanism to connect rural, low-income US Veterans with resources and improve food security (2018)
“Rural, low-income US veterans face additional barriers to accessing food and resources compared to urban veterans. Based on both social-ecological and cultural competence approaches, the Reaching Rural Veterans (RRV) pilot intervention built on the existing infrastructure of food pantries to improve food security and connect rural, low-income veterans with resources. This article describes the process of implementing and evaluating RRV.”
Communication and connection during deployment: A daily diary study from the perspective of at-home partners (2018)
“In this study, 87 partners of deployed National Guard service members completed daily diaries, recording their entries for seven consecutive days on the same channels (e.g., phone) each time they communicated with their service member. They recorded their communication activities (e.g., support provision) and how connected they felt with their service member.”
The use of university services and student retention: Differential links for student service members or veterans and civilian students (2018)
“Grounded in research and theory on college student retention, this study assessed differences in the use of various university services and the influence of key personnel on retention-related outcomes of student service members or veterans (SSM/Vs) compared with civilian students. Participants included 386 students, 199 (154 male, 45 female) of which were SSM/Vs and 187 (87 male, 100 female) were civilian students.”
Examining multiple rhythms of military and veteran family life (2018)
“This review considers existing literature about military and veteran families’ deployment-related experiences in relation to three separate, yet related, temporal rhythms. First, we consider military family functioning within a short-term rhythm focused on dynamic family interactions (e.g., communicative exchanges) that occur daily.”
Changes in parenting and youth adjustment across the military deployment cycle (2018)
“This study examined how changes in at-home parents’ mental health and parenting practices related to changes in their children’s adjustment throughout the course of a service members’ military deployment. Participants included at-home parents from 114 National Guard families who were interviewed at four different occasions across the deployment cycle.”
Family stressors and resources: Relationships with depressive symptoms in military couples during pre-deployment (2017)
This study uses family stress theory to examine risk and protective factors associated with family members’ adaptation during times of stressful transition. Using an online survey, we gathered data from 151 U.S. Army National Guard members and their spouses preparing for a scheduled deployment.
Total force fitness: The military family fitness model (2017)
This article describes the Military Family Fitness Model (MFFM), a comprehensive model aimed at enhancing family fitness and resilience across the life span. The purpose of this article is to (1) expand the military’s Total Force Fitness (TFF) intent as it relates to families and (2) offer a family fitness model. This article will summarize relevant evidence, provide supportive theory, describe the model, and proffer metrics that support the dimensions of this model.
Factors associated with civilian employment, work satisfaction, and performance among National Guard members (2015)
This article investigated several factors associated with employment-related outcomes among National Guard members returning from Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation New Dawn deployments.
Help seeking by parents in military families on behalf of their young children (2015)
MFRI contributing authors studied military family help-seeking activities with regard to children’s problems. Specifically, they examined emotional and behavioral problems in children younger than 10 years old. In general, the study found parents knew about these problems.