ABSTRACT
Military spouses often have concerns regarding the impact of their communication on soldiers during deployment. However, literature is mixed regarding how communication between soldiers and spouses may impact soldiers' self-reported work functioning during deployment, suggesting the need to evaluate moderating factors. In the current study, three relationship factors (marital satisfaction, conflictual communication, and proportion of conversation focused on problems) were tested as moderators of communication frequency and negative marriage-to-work spillover for soldiers. Whereas the three relationship factors were independently related to negative spillover, none significantly moderated the relationship between communication frequency and spillover. The overall pattern of results suggests that (a) lower marital satisfaction, a focus on problems during communication, and conflictual communication are each strongly linked to spillover for deployed soldiers, and (b) military couples may be self-restricting deployment communication frequency when experiencing less marital satisfaction and higher rates of negative communication. Implications for communication during deployment are discussed.
ABSTRACT
A conceptual framework for studying the prevention of human dysfunction is offered. On the basis of recent advances in research on the development of psychological disorders and methods of preventive intervention, generalizations about the relation of risk and protective factors to disorder are put forward, along with a set of principles for what may be identified as the science of prevention. Emerging themes from the study of human development, in general, need to be incorporated in the models for explaining and preventing serious problems of human adaptation. The article concludes with a set of recommendations for a national prevention research agenda.
Subject(s)
Mental Disorders/prevention & control , Humans , Mental Disorders/psychology , Personality Development , Risk Factors , Social EnvironmentABSTRACT
This article reports the 4- and 5-year follow-up results of evaluating the effects of a marital distress prevention program. The program, Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP), is a 5-session program designed to teach couples effective communication and conflict management skills. At the 5-year follow-up, intervention, as compared with control, couples had higher levels of positive and lower levels of negative communication skills and lower levels of marital violence. Data are also presented on couples who declined the program. Issues are discussed concerning selection effects, change mechanisms, and future directions for prevention research.
Subject(s)
Communication , Conflict, Psychological , Marital Therapy/methods , Marriage/psychology , Adolescent , Adult , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Male , Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care , Problem SolvingABSTRACT
We examined the impact of parental marital quality, both before marriage and after the birth of a child, on child attachment and related constructs. 39 parents (20 families) with children between the ages of 1-3 years completed measures of marital satisfaction, conflict, and communication at 2 time periods (premarriage and postbirth, 3-5 years later). Parents also completed Q-sort descriptions of their child at postbirth, yielding scores for security of attachment, sociability, and dependency. Results indicated that both premarital and postbirth indices of the parent's marital relationship were related to child functioning. For mothers, high satisfaction, low conflict, and high communication quality (rated by fathers) were related to child security of attachment and dependency. For fathers, higher levels of premarital conflict and lower levels of communication quality were positively related to dependency. These findings indicate that the quality of the parents' relationship before marriage as well as after the child is born is related to child functioning.
Subject(s)
Marriage , Object Attachment , Psychology, Child , Adult , Child, Preschool , Communication , Dependency, Psychological , Female , Humans , Infant , Longitudinal Studies , Male , Social BehaviorSubject(s)
Behavior Therapy , Marital Therapy , Cross-Cultural Comparison , Europe , Female , Humans , Male , United StatesSubject(s)
Behavior Therapy , Cognition , Marriage , Adolescent , Adult , Communication , Female , Humans , Longitudinal Studies , Male , Problem SolvingSubject(s)
Marriage , Natural Childbirth/psychology , Adult , Anxiety/prevention & control , Female , Humans , Male , Parents/psychology , PregnancySubject(s)
Cognition , Interpersonal Relations , Marriage , Adult , Female , Humans , Male , Set, PsychologyABSTRACT
This paper describes the development and application of a procedure (The Relationship World Index) to measure the development of intimate relationships. Grounded in symbolic interaction theory, the Relationship World Index is a measure of agreement on important aspects of relationships between members of intimate dyads. The development of the measure was guided by assumptions inherent in symbolic interactionism that predict the emergence of a shared construction of reality that bonds relationship members. Research results are presented providing evidence for the reliability and validity of the measure.
