Sponsor
The US Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity, 820 Chandler Street, Fort Detrick MD 21702-5014 is the awarding and administering acquisition office. This work was supported by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, through the USAMRMC Broad Agency Announcement under Award W81XWH-13-2-0020.
Published In
Military Behavioral Health
Document Type
Post-Print
Publication Date
10-2020
Subjects
Dyadic analysis (Social sciences), Soldiers -- Alcohol use, Veterans -- Alcohol use -- United States, Military spouses -- United States -- Alcohol use, Alcoholism, Distress (Psychology)
Abstract
High rates of alcohol use have been documented within military personnel and spouses. However, scant research has investigated alcohol consumption behaviors in matched couples or nonclinical veteran samples. The manner in which couples influence one another’s drinking remains unclear. The current study examined hazardous drinking scores and drinking behaviors in a sample of post-9/11 separated service members (most of whom were veterans) and active duty reservists and their spouse/partners; 260 military-connected couples participated in the Study for Employment Retention of Veterans (SERVe) and were recruited from 35 workplace organizations in the Pacific Northwest. Participants completed baseline and daily surveys on alcohol consumption over the span of 32 days. Among study highlights, Actor–Partner Interdependence Models (APIM) revealed actor effects for psychological distress predicting alcohol use variables. Significant partner effects were also revealed for hazardous drinking (AUDIT) scores predicting subsequent alcohol use, over and above actor (i.e., within-person) effects of those relationships. Higher levels of subsequent drinking frequency and quantity were evident among partners of veterans with higher hazardous drinking scores. Spouses with higher hazardous drinking scores were associated with veteran partners who drank more frequently. Results shed light on how military-connected couples, particularly those engaging in hazardous drinking, uniquely influence one another’s alcohol consumption behaviors. Ultimately, findings highlight the importance of including spouses of veterans to elucidate the interplay of drinking behaviors within military-connected couples.
Rights
Copyright © 2020 Informa UK Limited
Locate the Document
DOI
10.1080/21635781.2020.1825241
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/34251
Citation Details
Published as: Lee, J. D., O’Neill, A. S., Denning, E. C., Mohr, C. D., & Hammer, L. B. (2020). A dyadic examination of drinking behaviors within military-connected couples. Military Behavioral Health, 1-14.
Description
This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Military Behavioral Health. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Military Behavioral Health