Changing Family Roles - Across the Deployment Cycle

OVERVIEW This multi-informant, longitudinal investigation of Army National Guard families experience of deployment project focuses on a the negotiation and management of family roles during deployment cycles, and b on the impact of technology-based communication during deployment on later psychological distress and role functioning. PROGRESS TO DATE Recruited 83 families with federal funding for a total of 132 since proposal submission. Obtained reintegration data from 219 families. Seven conference presentations delivered four presentations accepted, two manuscripts published, others under review. Findings Regarding Deployment Communication At-home partners who reported higher levels of support also reported feeling closer to service members. On days when at-home partners reported receiving more support, they also reported feeling closer to service members. Finding Regarding Sibling Relationships At-home partners reporting higher levels of warmth and lower levels of agonism also reported lower levels of externalizing behavior in their children. When at-home partners reported their childrens relationship changed over the course of the study, so did their reports of externalizing behavior in their children.