Coping processes in National Guard/Reserve service members and their partners

Service members who serve in combat are at elevated risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and partners of service members with PTSD symptoms are at increased risk for psychological distress. Studies have identified coping processes as one potential factor influencing how individuals develop such problems. The current study examined the associations between coping processes, stressors, and psychological outcomes among 216 National Guard service members deployed overseas since 2001 and 212 of their partners. Increased levels of emotion focused coping were found in service members who reported higher levels of combat exposure and in partners who perceived higher levels of PTSD symptoms in service members. Moreover, the severity of the relevant stressor was a curvilinear moderator of the relation between coping process and psychological distress in both samples, such that emotion focused coping was associated with less psychological distress (PTSD symptoms in service members; overall psychological distress in partners) at high and low levels of stressors, but greater distress at moderate levels of stressors. The opposite pattern was found for problem focused coping in most cases. These findings highlight the complex interactions between coping processes, stress, and psychological outcome, and indicate that different types of coping may be optimal at different degrees of stress.