Military Wives’ Perspectives of the Impact of Deployment on Marital Satisfaction

With the inception of the Global War on Terror in 2001, over one and a half million United States military soldiers have deployed overseas to combat zones. Consequently, soldiers and their spouses have undergone numerous psychological challenges as well as a shift in the marital dynamics during a deployment. Difficulties in relationships created by the demands of deployment may lead to the dissolution of a marriage. Hence, the purpose of this study was to quantitatively examine the impact of military deployment on marital satisfaction as experienced by military spouses. This study was grounded in the family systems theory and involved using the ABCX model of family stress and coping to explore the proposed phenomenon. Survey data were collected from 235 participants using the Marital Adjustment Test and Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale, and Depression Anxiety Stress Scales to measure outcomes. Study results showed greater marital satisfaction amongst wives who have never experienced a deployment while married to a service member. Additionally, wives with deployed husbands reported higher levels of psychological distress, such as anxiety and stress. Study results suggest a correlation between military deployment and marital satisfaction. Therefore, this study can impact positive social change by helping to guide the development and implementation of programs designed to offer support to married couples going through military deployment. Marital support can potentially strengthen marital satisfaction and in turn lead to positive social change by affecting the psychological functioning of soldiers, making them more effective on the battlefield