| Title | Publication | Date/Location |
|---|---|---|
| Military life stressors, family communication and satisfaction: Associations with children’s psychosocial outcomes | Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma | 2019 May;13(1):75-87 |
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Briggs EC, Fairbank JA, Tunno AM, Lee RC, Corry NH, Pflieger JC, Stander VA, Murphy RA The purpose of this study was to examine facets of military life and family factors that may impact child psychosocial and mental health functioning. Using baseline data from the Millennium Cohort Family Study, this study examined family demographics and composition (age, number of children), military life stressors (injury, family, and deployment stressors), family communication and satisfaction, parental social functioning, and child mental health and behavioral functioning. Injury- and family-related military stressors were significant indicators of heightened risk for child mental health conditions, whereas greater levels of parental social functioning and family satisfaction were associated with lower risk of child mental health conditions. Differential associations were found in child functioning when military-related variables (e.g., service component), sociodemographic, and family composition factors (number and age of the children in the home) were examined. These findings underscore the importance of examining the “whole child” within the broader ecological and military family context to understand factors associated with children’s mental and behavioral health. The results have considerable implications for the development of policies to support children and families encountering multiple stressors related to a parent’s military service. |
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| Partner Effects: Analyzing Service Member and Spouse Drinking Over Time | American Journal of Preventative Medicine | 2023 April |
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Joneydi, R., Sparks, A.C., Kolenikov, S., Jacobson, I. G., Knoblock, L.K., Williams, C.S., Pflieger, J.C., Corry, N.H., Stander, V.A. Excessive alcohol use is a significant problem in the military. Although there is a growing emphasis on family-centered alcohol prevention approaches, little is known about the interplay between partners’ drinking behaviors. This study examines how service members and their spouses influence each other's drinking behavior over time and explores the complex individual, interpersonal, and organizational factors that may contribute to alcohol use. |
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| Patterns of strengths in U.S. military couples | Journal of Child and Family Studies | 2019 Sep;29:1249–1263 |
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Pflieger JC, Porter B, Carballo CE, Stander VA, Corry NH This study examined patterns of strengths among military couples in the Millennium Cohort Family Study (n = 9,642), including beliefs (self-mastery, positive outlook, spirituality), social support, and family communication. Results supported five patterns of strengths, with 58.4% of couples exhibiting a pattern of high strengths; 33.6% of couples exhibiting two patterns in which one member of the couple was higher on strengths than the other member; 5.1% of couples exhibiting a pattern of low strengths; and 2.9% of couples exhibiting a pattern of moderately high beliefs and social support, yet very low family communication. Higher spouse education level and service member officer rank consistently distinguished patterns of high strengths, whereas couples with lower mental health, marital quality, and military satisfaction were more likely to exhibit patterns of low strengths. These results provide a snapshot of couples early in the military career cycle and highlight the need to adopt a family-centered perspective in military resilience programs and policies. |
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| Perceived barriers to mental healthcare among spouses of military service members | Psychological Services | 2022; May;19(2):396-405 |
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Schvey NA, Burke DJ, Pearlman AT, Britt TW, Riggs DS, Carballo CE, Stander VA The elucidation of barriers to mental healthcare among military spouses is critical to optimizing the health of the military family and ensuring military readiness. Utilizing data from the Millennium Cohort Family Study, the current study found that logistic factors, such as lack of time or cost of services (reported by 63%), and negative attitudes towards mental healthcare (reported by 52%) were the most frequently reported barriers to care. Other reported barriers included fear of negative consequences (reported by 35%) and internalized mental health stigma (reported by 32%). Spouses with prior or current military service themselves and individuals with probable psychiatric conditions were most likely to report barriers to mental healthcare. Prospective data are needed to elucidate the associations between perceived barriers to care and actual mental healthcare utilization. |
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| Posttraumatic stress disorder symptom clusters in service members predict new-onset depression among military spouses | Journal of Traumatic Stress | Epub ahead of print |
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Walter KH, LeardMann CA, Carballo CE, McMaster HM, Donoho CJ, Stander VA Among spouses of service members with probable posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), 14% met criteria for new-onset depression over a 3-year period. The service member’s PTSD symptom cluster of effortful avoidance was associated with an increased risk of new-onset depression in spouses, underscoring the impact of service member psychological symptoms on the spouse. |
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| Pre- and perinatal risk factors for child maltreatment in military families across the first two years of life. | Child Maltreatment | 2022 April; 1-12 |
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Sullivan, K., Richardson, S., Ross, A., Cederbaum, J., Pflieger, J., Abramovitz, L., Bukowinski, A., & Stander, V. Military families are exposed to a unique constellation of risk factors, which may impact maltreatment outcomes. The present study examined prospective relationships between demographic, health, birth-related, and military-specific risk factors identified prior to a child’s birth on their risk for maltreatment in the first two years of life. |
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| Prevalence of psychiatric morbidity in the United States military spouses: The Millennium Cohort Family Study | Depression and Anxiety | 2018 Sep;35(9):815-829 |
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Steenkamp MM, Corry NH, Qian M, Li M, McMaster HS, Fairbank JA, Stander VA, Hollahan L, Marmar CR This cross-sectional study assesses the prevalence of eight mental health conditions in spouses of U.S. Service members with 2 to 5 years of service and the association between deployment status and spousal outcomes, as well as concordance in psychopathology between spouses and Service members. Over one-third of spouses met criteria for at least one of the assessed psychiatric conditions. Having a partner who deployed with combat resulted in higher prevalence of anxiety, insomnia and somatization. Rates of depression, anxiety and somatization were similar between spouses and Service members. |
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| Reducing the length of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support | European Journal of Psychological Assessment | 2020 Sep;36(5):829-838 |
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Porter B, Kolaja CA, Powell TM, Pflieger JC, Stander VA, Armenta RA This study establishes the utility and validity of a shortened version of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). Using data from the first follow-up survey of the Millennium Cohort Family Study and a sample of university undergraduate students, results demonstrated that a scale half the length of the original measure (six items) assessed perceived social support about equally well as the full length MSPSS. Therefore, future Millennium Cohort and Millennium Cohort Family Study questionnaires will contain the reduced measure, saving participants time without sacrificing data quality. |
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| Risk and Protective Factors Predictive of Marital Instability in U.S. Military Couples | Journal of Family Psychology | ePub; 2021 Dec |
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Pflieger JC, Richardson SM, Stander VA, Allen ES The objective of this study was to predict marital instability from a range of risk and protective factors in a large, representative cohort of military couples participating in the Millennium Cohort Family Study. Factors analyzed include mental health, family communication, military experiences, and education level. Findings from this study can be used to target specific couples risk factors for marital instability and to tailor programs to at-risk subgroups. |
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| Smoking and drinking behaviors of military spouses: Findings from the Millennium Cohort Family Study | Addictive Behaviors | 2017 Sep;77:121-130 |
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Trone DW, Powell TM, Bauer LM, Seelig AD, Peterson AV, Littman AJ, Williams EC, Maynard CC, Bricker JB, Boyko EJ This cross-sectional study assesses the associations between stressful military experiences and tobacco use and alcohol misuse among Service member spouses. Our findings suggest that contextual characteristics about the deployment experience, as well as the perceived stress of those experiences, may be more impactful than the simple fact of Service member deployment itself. These results suggest that considering the impact of deployment experiences on military spouses reveals important dimensions of military community adaptation and risk. |
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