Challenges Facing Military Spouses During Postdeployment Reintegration: A Review of the Literature and Current Supports

ABSTRACT

The reintegration period when service members return from deployment and transition back into family life is usually filled with joy, but can also involve unique stressors and challenges. In this review, the authors synthesize the empirical literature on the well-being of military spouses during reintegration across 6 domains: mental health, social/role functioning, relationship functioning, spiritual functioning, physical health, and financial well-being. In each domain, the authors provide an overview of current support programs available to military spouses to aid in reintegration. Recommendations for future research and programming are offered.

KEYWORDS:

• Military spouses
• military families
• military children
• military service members
• deployment
• reintegration
• marriage relations
• mental health
• well-being

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Dr. Michelle Kuhl for her valuable contributions to this project. They are also grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions.

Funding

This work is the result of a partnership funded by the Department of Defense between the Office of Military Community and Family Policy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture through a cooperative agreement with the University of Minnesota under Award No. 2013-48710-21515.