MARITAL RELATIONS AND COMBAT STRESS REACTION - THE WIVES PERSPECTIVE

This study examined changes over time in the marital relations of Israeli combat veterans who sustained a combat stress reaction (CSR) during the 1982 Lebanon War. Wives of CSR veterans and wives of comparable non-CSR combat veterans were interviewed 6 years after the war regarding their marital relations at four points in time. Couples in which the husband sustained a CSR were found to be characterized at all points in time by more conflict, less intimacy, less consensus, less cohesion, and less expressiveness than non-CSR couples. Findings also indicate that a CSR was generally followed by changes in three aspects of the marital relationship: an increase in conflict and a reduction in satisfaction and cohesion.