Wives' adjustment to military deployment : an empirical investigation of a family stress model

Abstract

The adjustment of wives of naval personnel to the service-related absence of their spouses was investigated in a longitudinal research design. Guided by the T-Double ABCX Model, predictor variables were chosen reflecting family vulnerability, family type, family re sources, appraisal, and coping and problem solving. These variables were related to changes occurring from prior-to-deployment, and from early deployment to late deployment, in several indicators of adjustment: health complaints, dysphoria, depression, marital happi ness, and parenting concerns. The T-Double ABCX Model predicted between nine and 35 percent of variance in adjustment. Components of the model varied in their usefulness according to dimension and phase of adjustment.