Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 7, 2026

The Resident-intruder Paradigm: A Standardized Test for Aggression, Violence and Social Stress
Published on: July 4, 2013
Targeting relational aggression in veterans: the Strength at Home Friends and Family intervention
Maureen A Hayes1, Matthew W Gallagher, Karina Stavitsky Gilbert
1The National Center on Family Homelessness at the American Institutes for Research, Waltham.
Objective:
We evaluated the effectiveness of Strength at Home Friends and Families (SAH-F), a dyadic group intervention to prevent relational aggression and its negative consequences, in a community-based sample of service members/veterans and significant others who reported relational difficulties.
Method:
Participants included 70 veterans and their loved ones. Recruitment was conducted from October 2010 through March 2012. Participants completed an initial assessment that included measures of relational aggression and functioning, depressive symptoms, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Participants were enrolled in the 10-week SAH-F targeting social information-processing mechanisms hypothesized to underlie the relationship between trauma and aggression and were reassessed at program completion and 3 months after intervention.
Results:
Significant reductions in psychological aggression were seen both at program completion and at 3-month follow-up for both veterans (standardized mean gain effect size [ESsg] = -0.45, P < .05) and significant others (ESsg = -0.30, P < .05). Perpetration of physical aggression remained low after pretreatment and did not increase. Relationship adjustment reported by significant others, but not veterans, indicated a significant improvement from pretreatment to program completion (ESsg = 0.33, P < .05). Significant (P < .05) decreases in depressive symptoms were observed from pretreatment to program completion for veterans (ESsg = -0.30, P < .05) and significant others (ESsg = -0.55, P < .05), and significant decreases in PTSD symptoms were observed from pretreatment to follow-up for veterans and significant others (ESsg = -0.52, P < .05).
Conclusions:
Results provide support for the effectiveness of SAH-F in reducing relational aggression in military member/significant other dyads and enhancing relationship quality and mental health.
Related Concept Videos
Family Therapy
Strategic Family Therapy
Strategic family therapy emphasizes resolving communication barriers and improving problem-solving abilities...
Aggression
Community Based Intervention
Foundations of Community Mental Health Programs
Central to the success of community-based interventions is the...
Robbers Cave
Couples Therapy
Core Principles and Techniques
Couples therapy often incorporates cognitive-behavioral principles to identify and modify negative...
Relationship Growth

