Trauma Symptoms, Communication, and Relationship Satisfaction in Military Couples

Abstract

Trauma symptoms are negatively correlated with couple relationship satisfaction, which is of particular importance in the relationships of military personnel who are often exposed to trauma whilst on overseas deployment. This study tested a model in which communication mediated an association between trauma symptoms and low relationship satisfaction. Thirty-one Australian military couples were observationally assessed during a communication task, and assessed on their relationship satisfaction and individual functioning. As expected, trauma symptoms in the male military spouse were associated with low satisfaction in both spouses. Females' low positive communication fully mediated the relationship between males' trauma symptoms and low female satisfaction, but not male relationship satisfaction. Unexpectedly, males' negative communication behaviors were associated with high male relationship satisfaction, and partially mediated the association between trauma symptoms and male satisfaction. Discussion focused on how some communication usually thought of as negative might be associated with relationship satisfaction in military couples.

Relationship education for military couples: the development and randomised controlled trial of Couple CARE in Uniform

“…Twenty-five percent of couples dropped out of the study before finishing their allocated intervention, which is only slightly higher than the 15 to 20% attrition reported in previous trials of Couple CARE Halford, et al, 2015). However, the further 22% loss from the analyses of couples not participating in the follow-up assessments did erode power substantially.…”

“…Skillsbased RE tends to produce larger short-term effects on satisfaction in couples with low relationship satisfaction (Halford et al, 2015). It may be that highly satisfied couples show little benefit from RE in the short term, or that any changes are not detected by existing measures of relationship satisfaction, which have low sensitivity for discriminating between couples at the high end of the satisfaction range (Funk & Rogge, 2007).…”

“…Ceiling effects seem to prevent initially highly satisfied couples from showing much improvement after RE (Halford & Bodenmann, 2013), and there is a replicated finding that couples with low satisfaction receiving RE showed moderate immediate increase in relationship satisfaction after RE, whereas those with high satisfaction showed little to no change (Halford et al, 2015). Although RE is primarily intended for satisfied couples, these results suggest that RE might also function as an accessible and cost-effective intervention for couples entering the early stages of distress.…”

“…Previous research with larger samples found Couple CARE for civilians produced larger increases in relationship satisfaction than low intensity control interventions like guided reading (Halford et al, 2015) or assessment and feedback . At the same time it is noteworthy that the increases in satisfaction observed in the control condition in the current study are similar to the small effect size increases in relationship satisfaction noted in initially satisfied couples with skill-based relationship education (Halford & Bodenmann, 2013 Another possible explanation for the lack of differential effect between conditions is that the couples in our sample were quite satisfied in their relationships before starting the program.…”

“…The presence of PTSD is strongly associated with low relationship satisfaction and elevated psychological distress in nonmilitary spouses (McGuire et al, 2012). Moreover, large numbers of military personnel suffer posttraumatic stress symptoms at subclinical levels, and also report lower couple satisfaction than military couples without those symptoms (Bakhurst, Halford, & McGuire, 2015;Nelson Goff et al, 2007). Reintegration after a long separation also presents challenges, as each partner deals with the aftermath of any trauma, and learns to be part of a family again …”