Social role violations in a greedy institution: Gender, spouses' military status, and servicemembers' marital problems

Abstract: Due to social role expectations, individuals who work in "gender atypical" occupations (i.e., occupations primarily comprised of workers of a different gender) often face unique job strains that may impede healthy intimate relationships (Yu & Kuo, 2021). At the same time, "greedy institutions" (i.e., those that expect total commitment from members, e.g., family, the military), demand members' full commitment and may increase risk for marital problems. Women's higher marriage rates to fellow strained professionals likely also contribute to work/family tension (Yu & Kuo, 2021). Still, little is known about how one's gender and their spouse's career are associated with specific marital problems in gender atypical, greedy institutions like the military. This study utilized the United States Air Force Community Feedback Tool (N = 28,745) to examine rates of and associations between gender, spouse military status, and types of marital problems endorsed by active-duty members (e.g., communication, divorce, abuse, living apart). Rate comparisons revealed that servicewomen endorsed higher rates of all types of marital problems than servicemen. After controlling for potential confounding variables, spouse military status moderated the relationship between gender and two problems likely exacerbated in greedy military institutions: changing roles and living apart. This finding suggests that servicewomen are bearing more marital burden overall, and only when men's spouses serve do they experience similar marital problems. Results indicate that human resource policies and leadership practices are warranted that support dual-military/career couples (e.g., reducing unnecessary moves, providing targeted transitional assistance) as well as preventative and clinical interventions to mitigate severe problems disproportionately faced by women (e.g., community efforts to identify and mitigate risks of abuse and divorce).

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