Attachment, Couple Communication, and Family Functioning in Relation to Psychological Distress Among Service Members and Veterans

Military life is characterized by high occupational stress that may include dangerous training exercises, lengthy deployments, combat exposure, as well as frequent relocations and separations from family that can contribute to emotional distress. Individual attachment style is associated with coping responses and may distinguish service members and veterans (SMVs) who exhibit stress-related symptomatology versus those who do not. Furthermore, family systems theory suggests that couple and family relationships may mitigate or exacerbate the impact of these stressors on SMVs' psychological outcomes. Married or partnered SMVs (N = 156) completed an online survey that included measures of adult attachment strategies, couple communication, family functioning, and psychological symptoms. Multivariate multiple regression results documented strong associations between attachment strategies and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder and depression, as well as some moderation effects by couple communication and family functioning. Demand-withdraw communication moderated the associations between attachment avoidance and symptoms, and family functioning moderated the association between attachment anxiety and depression, whereas positive couple communication was nonsignificant across models. Overall, the results suggest that the family attachment network plays an important role in the mental health of SMVs.