"Up-Armoring" At-Risk Military Couples: A Stepped Approach to Early Intervention and Strengthening of Military Families

"Up-Armoring" At-Risk Military Couples: A Stepped Approach to Early Intervention and Strengthening of Military Families

The study tested whether giving young, partnered military service members access to an online relationship help website would help prevent future relationship problems compared to partnered service member who did not have access to the website

This study tested whether access to a self-directed, online couple intervention offered preventively lessened the occurrence of future negative relationship outcomes (i.e., relationship dysfunction, infidelity, intimate partner violence (IPV) for partnered service members in comparison to the usual resources for relationship assistance in the military. Participants were active-duty military in a committed romantic relationship of at least 6-months duration (N = 581; 37.2% married) who had recently completed basic military training and were transitioning into technical training to learn a specific job skill set. Participants were randomly assigned by in-processing week to the intervention or the control condition. The intervention effect was modeled using both Intent to Treat (ITT) and Complier Average Causal Effect (CACE) approaches.

Inclusion Criteria:

• To be included in the study, participants had to be: (a) in a committed romantic relationship for at least six months and (b) on active duty (not Guard or Reserve).

Exclusion Criteria:

• Participants with prior military service (i.e., not new to the military who were retraining into a different career field) were excluded.