Published: 1989
Total Pages: 34
Get eBook
This research supports the Army Family Action Plan by investigating ways to improve 'family wellness' during a critical period of family stress--the adaptation to relocation overseas. The report is based on a secondary analysis of the '1000 Army Families Dataset, ' which was collected in 1983. Compared with earlier analyses of this dataset, additional concepts were specified to determine their relative influence on family adaptation and separate analyses were conducted for: a) enlisted members, b) spouses of enlisted members, c) officers, and d) spouses of officers. Although the results of the investigation are not directly comparable across the four sample subgroups, the findings clearly support the importance of congruency of expectations and actual experiences about life in Europe on the level of family adaptation. This factor emerged as the best predictor of family adaptation for all four subgroups. Specifically, family adaptation was highest in families where the actual experiences (e.g., the job, housing, and schools), were the same or better than expected before arrival in Europe. In addition, the level of community support (e.g., the extent to which individuals in the community can be relied on in times of trouble and the extent to which the community is perceived as a good place in which to live and raise children) also emerged as an important predictor of family adaptation for each of the subgroups. For all subgroups, the greater the community support, the higher the level of adaptation.
