Attachment-Based Relationship Satisfaction in Deployed and Non-Deployed Military Veterans with Prevalent PTSD, Anxiety, and Depression

After almost two decades of war, unprecedented operational tempos have remained high for the American military. This has left those on the home front (non-deploying veterans) a little behind since scholarship has mostly focused on veterans who have deployed. This study used a voluntary treatment-seeking sample of veterans who have not deployed (n = 49) and veterans who have deployed (n = 68) to address this gap in the literature. This study examines the associations between attachment avoidance, attachment anxiety, mental health constructs (i.e., generalized anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder), and relationship satisfaction. Independent samples t-test comparisons, correlational analyses, and two hierarchical regressions were conducted. The variables that were significantly correlated with relationship satisfaction for both samples were attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety. In the non-deployed sample, the regression was not statistically significant. However, in the deployed sample the regression was statistically significant. In the final step of the hierarchical regression, only attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety were significant predictors of relationship satisfaction. Implications for social work and other behavioral health clinicians are highlighted, including the benefits of practitioners working to help veterans develop and maintain supportive partners and other relationships, particularly through using the attachment theory-based approach of Emotionally Focused Therapy.