Hazardous drinking and family functioning in National Guard veterans and spouses postdeployment.

Abstract

The current study examined rates of alcohol misuse among National Guard (NG) service members and their spouses/partners, concordance of drinking behaviors among couples, and the effects of alcohol misuse, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on three measures of family functioning. This study is important because it addresses the topics of heavy drinking and family functioning in an at-risk population-NG service members returning from a combat zone deployment. We surveyed NG service members (1,143) and their partners (674) 45-90 days after returning from a military deployment. Service member rates of hazardous drinking were 29.2% and spouses/partners 10.7%. Of the 661 linked couples, 26.2% were discrepant where only one member met the criteria for hazardous drinking and 5.4% were congruent for alcohol misuse where both members met hazardous drinking criteria. Service members belonging to either congruent or discrepant drinking groups were more distressed in their marriages/relationships than those in the nonhazardous group. In dyadic analyses, an unexpected partner effect was found for parenting outcomes; that is, when service members drink more, their spouses/partners are less stressed when it comes to parenting. Importantly, both service member and spouse/partner depression was significantly associated with negative family outcomes. Results from this study suggest that when working with these families, it is important to understand the drinking status of both soldier and spouse and to treat depression in addition to alcohol misuse.

Long-Term Trajectories and Service Needs for Military Families

“…In a study of National Guard couples 45-90 days post-deployment from OEF/ OIF/OND, recent combat exposure was not related to family outcomes (Blow et al 2013). Hazardous drinking, however, was associated with more marital/relationship distress and both service member and spouse depression were associated with lower relationship satisfaction, higher parenting stress, and more family chaos.…”

Hazardous alcohol consumption among spouses or partners of military service personnel: a systematic review of the literature

“…The positive correlation between the alcohol use of couple members found in the general population was also found among currently serving and veteran military couples,25 26 31 although of a small to moderate effect size (r=0.27–0.48) 33. Only one study examined drinking concordance among current military couples 25. Blow et al reported that AUDIT scores were much higher in Service personnel than military spouses/partners (with an average difference of 7.4); however, both spouses or partners and personnel met AUDIT criteria for alcohol misuse in only 5.4% of couples 25.…”

“…However, this may differ depending on when during the deployment cycle surveys are conducted. As previously discussed, the highest AUDIT estimate of 10.7% from Blow et al 25 was obtained from a survey conducted in the 3 months following the return of Service personnel from deployment when couples may be celebrating their safe return. The length of deployment or separation from personnel also may play a role, with longer deployments of Service personnel significantly associated with negative spouse/partner drinking behaviours; over a 3-year period, 3.1 (95% CI 1.6 to 4.5) excess diagnoses of alcohol misuse per 1000 women were reported among spouses/partners of Service personnel deployed for longer than 11 months, significantly higher than the spouses/partners of personnel who did not deploy 32.…”

“…Some papers did contrast their findings to civilian estimates. Padden et al stated that the prevalence of binge-drinking among current US military spouses/partners (12.4%) was comparable with that among women in the general US population (12.1%)29 and while Blow et al stated that the prevalence of alcohol misuse among current military spouses or partners was slightly higher compared with women from general population studies (10.7% vs 8.4%),25 the authors suggest this may be an artefact of the timing of the survey (the 3 months following the return of Service personnel from deployment) rather than an actual increase in misuse. Self-reported heavy alcohol consumption among spouses or partners of veterans (2%) was reported to be lower than among women of the same age group in the general population (9%),30 suggesting this sample may in fact exhibit healthier lifestyle behaviours than the general population.…”

“…One paper examined sociodemographic factors associated with hazardous alcohol consumption among current military spouses/partners (Table 1) and found younger, unmarried spouses/partners of National Guard and those without children had higher rates of alcohol misuse than other spouses/partners in the 3 months following the return of Service personnel from deployment 25. Three papers examined military factors associated with hazardous alcohol consumption among current military spouses/partners (Table 1).…”