The Impact of Deployment on Spouses

The Impact of Deployment on Spouses

Research Outline

Research Aim

To investigate the Impact of deployment of Army wives during a deployment period when work life tensions are likely to be at their most intense.

Research Objectives

To investigate work-life tensions demands between service wives and the Army and to examine whether traditionally defined work-life boundaries between these two institutions are changing.

To identify the extent to which Army wives seek different types of support during three distinct phases of deployment - pre, during and post - and whether support is sought within or outside the military community.

To explore factors that moderate and aggravate work-life tensions between wives and the military.

Research Background

Since the 1970s, the military has become less institutional and women have played a wider, more integrated role in Service employment.

Military spouses have also become less dependent upon their service partners and build lives of their own, expecting more time and attention from their service partner - particularly in terms of family duties. Indeed, some claim that spouses of UK service personnel have become less tolerant of their traditional support role seeking social and employment opportunities that are less restricted by their ties to the Armed Forces. While the family has become more demanding, so has the military during the post-Cold War period, leading to debate about military “overstretch” (Dandeker 2000b). Smaller forces perform an increased number of operational commitments worldwide [but with fewer human resources so that families are separated more frequently. This study focuses on the extent to which military personnel and their spouses encounter conflicting pressures due to the increasing demands of both the military and family.

This is because those who are 'left behind' may have to adapt suddenly to being alone - such as paying bills or looking after children; they may have few support mechanisms and some will experience financial difficulties. In addition, they may be unaware of the duration of the deployment, and experience additional stress about whether their loved ones will return. Stress is not always on the same level, but varies through time and is clearly related to the perceived risk of the deployment. U.S. research indicates that the 'stress-buffering' effects of social support networks are important factors in the general well being of military wives during deployment of their spouses. Measures of organizational support for US Army wives during the 1991Gulf War found that young junior enlisted spouses with unrealistic expectations about what the(Segal and Segal 2003) Army could do to assist families during deployment manifested a strong link, post deployment, to their wives requesting that their spouse leave the Army and/or becoming divorced. However, we have limited information on these issues from a UK perspective.Introduction

The health and well being of military personnel is key to the effectiveness of military operations. It is recognised that the well-being of military families is an essential part of this. The British Armed Forces and the UK Ministry of Defence are aware of how important it is to invest in family welfare and make sure that any problems are addressed as failure to do so will have negative effect on operational ...