This study examined psychosocial issues within Army families and the contribution of support networks to spouses' well-being and to their desire that their soldiers remain in the Army. Data from a self-administered questionnaire were analyzed for 137 spouses from the active duty component, 410 from the National Guard, and 174 from the reserve. Differences among the three groups were found with regard to both the composition of their social support networks as well as their use of such networks. Use of support was associated with well-being, but not with retention.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
1. P. McClure and W. Broughton, “Military Community Cohesion.”MFI Technical Report 98-4 (Scranton, PA: Marywood University. 1988).
2.
2. Cohesion at the various levels is discussed in G.l. Bowen, D.K. Orthner, L.I. Zimmerman and T. Meehan, “Family Patterns and Adaptation in the U.S. Army,”ARI Technical Report (Alexandria, VA: U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, 1992); and C. Bourg and M.W. Segal, “The Impact of Family Supportive Policies and Practices on Organizational Commitment to the Army.” Armed Forces and Society 25, 4 (Summer 1998): 633-652.
3.
3. R.J. Ursano, H.C. Holloway, D.R. Jones, A.R. Rodiguez, and G.L. Belenky, “Psychiatric Care in the Military Community: Family and Military Stressors.”Hospital and Community Psvchiatry40, 12 (1989): 1284-1289.
4.
4. The environmental context is examined in K.W. Coolbaugh and A. Rosenthal, “Family Separations in the Army,”ARI Technical Report 964 (Alexandria. VA: U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, 1992); and in C. Van Laar, “Increasing Sense of Community in the Military: The Role of Personnel Support Programs.” RAND Report MR-1071-OSD (Santa Monica. CA: RAND Corporation. 1999).
5.
5. See McClure and Broughton, “Military Community Cohesion.” and Bourg and Segal. “The Impact of Family Supportive Policies and Practices,” for links of cohesion to retention.
6.
6. Coolbaugh and Rosenthal, “Family Separations.”
7.
7. C.E. Cutrona, D.W. Russell, R.M. Hessling, P.A. Brown, and V. Murry, “Direct and Moderating Effects of Community Context on the Psychological Well-Being of African-American Women.”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology79. 6 (December 2000):1088-1101.
8.
8. Umbrella Week was established by FORSCOM to allow researchers to access active component forces one week a year. The program was designed to minimize disruptions to scheduled training activities.
9.
9. At the time of this study, there were Family Support Groups. That name has since been changed to Family Readiness Groups, or FRGs.
10.
10. Information on FSGs can be found in DA PAM 608-47, “A Guide to Establishing Family Support Groups,” which is available on line at http://books.army.mil/cgi-bin/books/BOOKS/0608.
11.
11. Information on AFTB is also on-line at www.lewis.army.mil/community/dpca/fsd/acs/aftb/index.htm.
12.
12. D. Mayfield, G. McLeod, and P. Hall. “The CAGE Questionnaire: Validation of a New Alcoholism Screening Instrument,”American Journal of Psychiatry131, 10 (October 1974):1121-1123.
13.
13. L.S. Radloff, “The CES-D Scale: A Self-Report Depression Scale for Research in the General Population,”Applied Psychological Measurement1, 3 (Summer 1977): 385-400.
14.
14. M. Ender, “G.I. Phone Home: The Use of Telecommunications by the Soldiers of Just Cause,'Armed Forces and Society21, 3 (Spring 1995):435-453.
15.
15. U.S. Army Personnel Survey Office, 1995 Survey of Army Families (Alexandria, VA: U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, 1995).
16.
16. The Profile of the Military Community is published each year by the Military Family Resource Center and provides demographics on the military population.
17.
17. The buffering hypothesis is discussed in S. Cobb, ”Social Support as a Moderator of Life Stress,“Psychosomatic Medicine38, 5 (Sept-Oct 1976): 300-314: J. Griffith, ”Social Support Providers: Who Are They? Where Are They Met? And the Relationship of Network Characteristics to Psychological Distress,“ Basic and Applied Social Psychology 6, 1 (March 1985): 435-453; and in B.L. Wilcox, ”Social Support, Life Stress and Psychological Adjustment: A Test of the Buffering Hypothesis,“ American Journal of Community PsVchology 9, 4 (August 1981): 371-385.
