Researchers to study military marriages

Professors and researchers in the Kansas State University Campus Creek Complex are attempting to tackle an oddly under-researched topic: military marriages.

Jared Anderson, assistant professor in the marriage and family therapy department, and graduate student Matt Johnson are currently accepting applicants from Fort Riley, an army installation in northwestern Kansas, to participate in a marriage study specifically geared for the military, titled “The Transition to Marriage in the U.S.
Military.”

The study will be conducted through biannual surveys asking 100 couples personal and relationship questions. Those involved must either be engaged or have been married less than one year. The study will be conducted during a four-year period to determine what, if anything, can be learned about the success or failure of a married couple in the early years with the additional stress of deployments.

Anderson cited national statistics, stating one-third of all divorces happen in the first four to five years of marriage and explained how, for that reason, his model will last the duration of that particularly fragile time period.

The deployment rotations of the U.S. military often involve a much more stressful environment than that of their civilian counterparts. Many service members have personally experienced multiple deployments over a four-year period, and Anderson said he wants to identify what bearing this has on a young marital relationship.

Service members and their spouses must agree to participate in the study and will be paid $30 per couple every six months when their surveys are completed for a total of $240. The correspondence is done via the Internet, but for those who deploy without Internet capabilities, Anderson has paper copies of the survey that can be mailed.

The lack of research previously conducted in this area is something Anderson said he hopes to correct. Anderson, whose dissertation work focused on development and change in marriage relationships, found his relocation to Manhattan, Kansas, advantageous as it provided access to an under-researched marital population.

“There is no data in this area, so I’m using this survey as a preliminary study to get some interesting findings,” Anderson said. “We’ll write up the findings, and the long-term goal is strengthening prevention and enhancing intervention programs.”

Those who have chosen or will choose to participate in this survey will have a direct impact on the findings and therefore will indirectly assist in future marital programs for other young married couples. Anderson acknowledged the military does much to encourage strength in relationships and said he hopes his data will be applied to make the programs currently available more pertinent and focused on the areas that make a difference in the relationship.

Another aspect that surveying the military provides is diversity. Anderson said that though there have been many different civilian surveys conducted, most of the sample groups comprised the college-educated middle class.

Due to the wide range of education levels and economic classes that serve in the military, Fort Riley allows for a wide sample to be obtained.

In addition to separating the various sub-groups of the military, Anderson will be able to distinguish the participants on specific demographic factors, like age. This will assist Anderson in understanding whether any socioeconomic factors make a difference.