Marital Satisfaction, Family Support, and Pre-Deployment Resiliency Factors Related to Mental Health Outcomes for Reserve and National Guard Soldiers

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between resiliency factors and mental health outcomes among U.S. Army Reserve and National Guard soldiers. Our results demonstrate that higher marital satisfaction is significantly associated with lower anger, depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Importantly, our results provide evidence that among the assessed resiliency factors (predeployment preparation, unit social support, marital satisfaction, and family support), marital satisfaction has the strongest evidence for promoting resiliency. Future research should develop interventions that can be provided jointly to the soldier and his partner to facilitate stronger relationships and promote improved mental health and reintegration postdeployment.