Family Patterns and Adaptation in the U.S. Army

: This research supports the Army Family Action Plans by providing data and analysis on soldiers living in one of four family patterns: civilian wife marriages, civilian husband marriages, dual military marriage's, and single parenthood. This is the first major investigation comparing the stresses, strengths, and adaptations of soldiers in each of these types of family relationships. The data were collected from a random sample of 11,035 soldiers in 1989. The analyses were conducted on 7,524 married and single parent soldiers in the sample. Civilian spouse marriages were examined, whether the spouse was co-located with the soldier or not. Dual military marriages included those in which both partners were on active duty. Single parents included nonmarried soldiers who had custody of children living in their households. Final analyses compared soldiers across gender and pay grades on the following variables: work stress, family stress, psychological strengths, marriage and family strengths, social and community resources, leadership support, coping and adjustment, and Army-family fit.... Family, Adjustment, Stress, Single parents, Adaptation, Community.