Thesis (MComm (Industrial Psychology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Contemporary militaries are facing an increasing number of deployments compared to their previous counterparts. This is the result of globalisation and the acknowledgement of interdependence between various countries. The demand is even higher in the South African National Defence Force because of its geographical and socio-political position. Emanating from its position it is endowed with the task of stabilising the continent. This is an important task considering the fact that no country can experience stability and economic prosperity if its neighbours are unstable. The people performing the above highly venerated task are members of families with expectations. The demands posed by job demands in a form of deployment put tremendous pressure on even the healthiest of families. The situation is aggravated by the structure of most military families, cohesive nuclear families isolated from the support of extended families. The resulting conflict arising from the incompatibility affects all facets of a soldier’s life and his/her family. The inevitable consequences include stress, and attitudes such as job dissatisfaction, marital dissatisfaction, and low life satisfaction. The culmination of these negative consequences spill over to work performance and family stability. The family is the most disadvantaged domain because the military ethos enjoins soldiers to prioritise their work and treat the rest as secondary. This leads to an irrefutable destabilisation of families, which is a common experience in military families. The effects are more pronounced on women due to the social roles endowed on them. Their role in nurturance and emotional support make their absence more evident. The children are also not spared from the suffering. The effects of the fragmentation in the family affect their psychological wellbeing, their performance at school and their behaviour in general. The reunion often marks an apex of the tragedy. Returning parents find changes at home, some feel out of sync and others force their way into the families. The family roles have to be renegotiated, which is a process fraught with conflicts. The parents who gained prerogatives in the absence of their spouses are usually unwilling to relinquish their prominent positions. This result in conflicts, which prompt the dissolution of families, and in some cases, fathers withdraw and ask for unaccompanied long-term duties away from home.

<p>  </p> <p>The overarching goal of this dissertation was to understand how between-partner feedback loops facilitate adjustment in the year following a military deployment (i.e., reintegration). Reintegration encompasses a period of family transitions and can be a challenging and turbulent time for couples as they attempt to reconnect and reorganize household dynamics. Couples may experience changes in how they interact, and partners may be able to act as a catalyst for promoting positive change in each other. Guided by Family Systems and Interdependence Theories, this study tested a specific feedback loop of a between-partner mechanism across a period of family stress and transitions. Whereas the demand/withdraw dynamic is one example of a feedback loop that is consequential for relationship well-being, the present study examined an alternative feedback loop where partners may respond to individuals’ withdrawal with a type of constructive partner support that encourages discussions and facilitates effective collaboration (i.e., active engagement). Relationship happiness, an indicator for relationship climate, was considered as a moderator in this proposed feedback loop as it intersects with individuals’ tendencies to withdraw, partners’ attempts at support provision, and global relationship functioning during periods of stress and transition. </p> <p>This study utilized longitudinal dyadic data from 124 couples at three time points in the year following service members’ return from deployment to examine the 1) longitudinal interpersonal dynamics of individuals’ tendencies to withdraw, 2) mediating role of partners’ active engagement in the change in individuals’ withdrawal, and 3) moderating role of relationship happiness in the interpersonal dynamics. Study aims were evaluated with a series of actor-partner interdependence models and path models in a structural equation modeling framework. Results suggest three interpretations. First, whereas this study sought to examine change in individuals’ tendencies to withdraw, the data indicate high levels of within-person stability. Second, this study modeled a possible feedback loop where partners’ attempts at active engagement would result in less individual withdrawal. While I did not find evidence of this feedback loop as proposed, it appeared that (female) significant others’ withdrawal was salient for reductions in (male) service members’ active engagement. Finally, I sought to understand how relationship climate (operationalized by a dyad-level indicator of relationship happiness) was associated with the interpersonal dynamics. Couples defined by a happier relationship climate had a stronger negative association between significant others’ withdrawal and service members’ active engagement. This finding may be evidence of happier couples being more apt to shift between levels of independence and interdependence, which may be especially useful for postdeployment transitions. Taken together, findings from this study suggest that individuals’ tendencies to withdraw are relatively robust to the perturbations of deployment and the utility of flexibility and adaptability in couples’ patterns across reintegration. This dissertation concludes with a discussion of the theoretical implications, avenues for future research, and potential applications of these findings.  </p>