Risk and protective factors predictive of marital instability in U.S. military couples

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. Online and paper surveys were administered to service members and their spouses in 2011-2013, which captured couples' demographic and background characteristics, family stressors, military experiences, and mental health risk factors as well as protective factors including family communication, and military support and satisfaction. Approximately 3 years later, change in marital status was examined among participants who completed a follow-up survey (n = 6,494 couples). Hierarchical logistic regression models indicated that couples' younger age, lower education, childhood trauma, spouse employment status, mental health, and lower levels of communication contributed significant unique risk for marital instability. Moderation analyses by service member gender and spouse military status revealed that social isolation increased odds of marital instability for couples in which the service member was male but was not evidenced for couples in which the service member was female. Further, combat experience increased odds of marital instability for couples in which the service member was married to a veteran spouse but not for service members married to a dual-military or civilian spouse. Findings from this study can be used to target specific couple risk factors for marital instability and to tailor programs to at-risk subgroups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).