By Carl Surran

Military Families Prove Resilient Despite Wartime Stress

Fall 2007

Despite greatly increased stress on America’s armed forces since the start of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, divorce rates among military families have not spiked higher, according to a recent study issued by RAND Corporation.

The gradual rise in divorce, separations and annulments increased the rate of military breakups to about three percent annually in 2005 – the same level as 1996 – says the study by the non-profit research organization that analyzed records from about six million men and women who served in the U.S. military during the past 10 years. After several years of decline, marital dissolutions among military members began rising in 2001.

Contrary to expectations, married servicemembers who had been deployed generally were less likely to end their marriages than those who had not been deployed, and longer deployments were associated with reductions in risk.

The researchers noted that although deployments are undeniably stressful for couples, deployments may also benefit families in some ways, such as providing higher earnings from combat pay and the potential for career advancement. The military’s commitment to health care, child care and housing subsidies also may offer some protection from the negative effects of stress, says the report.

The RAND study also found that female servicemembers were more than twice as likely to end their marriages as their male peers, enlisted personnel were more likely to end their marriages than officers, and marriage rates in the military have climbed gradually in recent years along with the divorce rates.

The complete report, “Families Under Stress: An Assessment of Data, Theory and Research on Marriage and Divorce in the Military,” is available at www.rand.org.

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