Evaluations of Supportive and Unsupportive Responses during Spousal Deployment

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Abstract

This study investigates helpful/unhelpful support, and reasons why responses from others are evaluated as helpful/unhelpful in terms of how they affect the ability to cope with deployment. Interviews were conducted with 26 military partners during deployment. The results offer a typology of (un)helpful responses and attributions of these responses. Furthermore, the results indicate that similar responses can be evaluated as both helpful and unhelpful, creating a support paradox. Three prominent dimensions affecting the variability in response evaluations, based in validation, understanding, and control, are discussed: in-group versus out-group, identity-confirming versus identity-disconfirming, and burden-reducing versus burden-inducing. These dimensions deepen our understanding of how support is unique within the context of deployment, specifically in terms of the paradox it can create.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)291-314
Number of pages24
JournalCommunication Monographs
Volume82
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 3 Jul 2015

Keywords

  • Coping
  • Military Deployment
  • Social Support
  • Support Paradox
  • Supportive Communication

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