1 - (SYM 112) Longitudinal Associations of Individual and Relationship Distress in a Cohort Sample of Newly Enlisted Air Force Service Members

Emerging adulthood has long been identified as a transition period for individuals and romantic relationships. Newly enlisted military service members (SMs) face significant transitions and stressors both individually (e.g., military training, deployment) and interpersonally (e.g., separation from their families and significant others). Moreover, most SMs are in committed romantic relationships. Internalizing disorders (e.g., depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder) are strongly associated with relational distress in both civilian and military samples. To improve prevention efforts, it is critical to understand the relation between individual mental health (i.e., internalizing disorders) and romantic relationship functioning (i.e., couple distress) in SMs as they transition into the military. The current study followed SMs over their first two years of service in the Air Force.

Survey data from 972 SMs were collected at five timepoints (baseline, 6-, 12-, 18-, and 24-months) and assessed internalizing symptoms (depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder) and couple dysfunction (overall distress and specific communication difficulties). Bi-directional associations were examined between individual and relationship distress over the first two years of Air Force service through a multilevel structural equation model that regressed each variable (within person) at time t on each variable at time t-1. Individual internalizing symptoms significantly preceded change in couple distress (β = .08, p = .025), and couple distress also preceded change in individual internalizing symptoms (β = .07, p = .065), but to a lesser and only marginally significant degree. Analyses also revealed significant positive autoregressive associations over time for both couple distress (β = .56, p</em>< .001) and individual internalizing symptoms (β = .44, p< .001). Initial findings demonstrated potential bidirectional influences of couple distress and individual internalizing symptoms over time. More specific time-lagged changes in individual and couple distress over the first two years of Air Force service will be further explicated. Implications of these results for prevention efforts and future directions will be discussed.