Term of Award
Spring 2020
Degree Name
Master of Science in Experimental Psychology (M.S.)
Document Type and Release Option
Thesis (open access)
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Department
Department of Psychology
Committee Chair
Janice Steirn
Committee Member 1
Jessica Brooks
Committee Member 2
Dorthie Cross
Abstract
The goal of this research study is to assist in filling the gap in research on military spouses, beyond deployment and employment issues. Marital satisfaction is a known factor in service member retention and job performance, however very little research on what aspects may be related to military spouse marital satisfaction has been conducted. Military communities have been shown to be an important source of social support for military spouses, however few studies have considered spouses’ involvement in their larger communities. This study’s hypothesis states that a relationship between military spouses’ marital satisfaction and their community engagement off-base exists. The participants were 93 female Army spouses, mostly stationed at either Ft. Stewart or Ft. Benning, GA. These spouses responded to a survey which included measures on marital satisfaction, social support, stress, personality, in-group identity, demographics, and community engagement. The main form of analysis was a two-tailed Pearson’s correlation. Analysis did not find a significant relationship between the spouses’ marital satisfaction and their community engagement off-base. However, social support, stress, and the personality factors of extraversion and openness to experience were both significantly related to martial satisfaction. Community engagement was significantly related to base location, living location, and the number of times the spouses’ moved due to military orders. Limitations to this study included issues with the measures, survey demand characteristics, and the necessity of some researcher coding. Even so, both the nonsignificant and significant results can be used to broaden researchers’ understanding of military spouses and their needs.
OCLC Number
1157347523
Catalog Permalink
https://galileo-georgiasouthern.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01GALI_GASOUTH/1fi10pa/alma9916336285902950
Recommended Citation
Gilbert, Alexandra N., "An Examination of the Relationship Between Community Engagement and Military Spouse Marital Satisfaction" (2020). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2066.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/2066
Research Data and Supplementary Material
No
