Post-Deployment Adjustment of Michigan National Guard Couples

Year Awarded: 2007
Project Leaders:
Adrian Blow, Family & Child Ecology; Barbara Ames, Family & Child Ecology; Phillip Reed, Biomedical Research & Informatics Center (BRIC), and Epidemiology; Lisa Gorman, Family & Child Ecology; Col. James Anderson, Michigan National Guard

Project Description:
The purpose of this repeated measures pilot study is to understand selected factors related to the successful post-deployment adjustment of members of the Michigan National Guard (MI NG) and their partners. The MI NG has deployed 8,600 soldiers since 9/11/01 to combat zones and other high security areas, and operations in Iraq and Afghanistan represent the longest sustained mobilizations of NG soldiers in U.S. history.

The theoretical framework for this study is Hills' classic ABCX family crisis model developed in conjunction with World War II veterans. The MSU Longitudinal Study Engine (LSE), an internet gathering mechanism, will be used to collect anonymous and longitudinal data on NG soldiers and their partners at three points in time. The sample will include 100 MI NG members within one year of returning home post-deployment and who have at least one child under 18 at home and their spouses/partners (200 total). The influence of adult attachment style, participation in MI NG family programming, drug/alcohol use, education, social support, combat trauma, relationship infidelity, and income on post-deployment adjustment will be assessed, and adjustment will be measured using the criterion variables of marital/relationship adjustment, depression, work satisfaction/stability, parental stress, and PTSD symptoms.

This collaboration among Family and Child Ecology faculty, the MSU Biomedical Research and Informatics Center and the MI NG will generate important pilot data for seeking external funds, provide feedback to the MI NG to inform their family programming efforts, and test the feasibility of using the LSE to collect data on this population.