Making sense of changes in military partners’ post-deployment adjustment concern: Turning points, trajectories, and accounts

Abstract

Reintegration after a military service member returns home from deployment is a time of uncertainty that requires adjustment by all family members. Building on accounts (i.e., story-like constructions that help make sense of stressful events) scholarship, this study documents (a) turning points (TPs) and (b) patterns in partners’ levels of concern about post-deployment adjustment and investigates (c) how romantic partners account for why changes in adjustment concern occurred. Findings from interviews with 26 military partners reveal that accounts (a) involve multifaceted explanations spanning many domains of life, (b) explain why certain TPs increased and/or decreased concern, and (c) engage the meaning of time in varied ways. The importance of integrating an account-making framework with the TP methodology, theoretical implications for relational turbulence theory, and practical suggestions are discussed.