Previously, McLeland and Sutton (2005) assessed marital satisfaction among 46 male civilians and Reserve Component personnel, some of the latter having been alerted for a future deployment. Subsequently, marital satisfaction was also assessed for 74 male Active Component Army personnel who had recently returned from duty in a combat zone. Marital satisfaction scores were compared across personnel status. Mixed results were obtained from an analysis of variance comparing the five subgroups of personnel; however, when the three types of deployment groups were contrasted with the civilian and never-deployed military groups, substantial (ES = 0.55) and significant (p < .005) differences in marital satisfaction were observed. Although exploratory, these data indicate that predeployment and postdeployment situations are stressful for military members and may be associated with lower marital satisfaction for months before and months after a deployment, as well as during the deployment. Furthermore, changes in marital or relationship satisfaction may be more sensitive and timely as indicators of any stressful effects of deployments and separation on military families than changes in marital or relationship stability.

We examined the relationship of gender, forgiveness, and spirituality to restoration attitudes expressed toward pastors who committed a transgression. In Study 1, participants' restoration responses favored the opposite gender. In Study 2, men and women responded differently depending on the offense. Dispositional forgiveness was significantly associated with pastoral restoration following offenses of infidelity, anger, child abuse, and substance abuse. Measures of spirituality were primarily associated with forgiveness but explained little of the variance in restoration attitudes.

This study examined how the attitudes of conservative American Protestants attending Midwestern churches might vary as a function of religious beliefs, gender, and exposure to scenarios of people from stigmatized groups who were asking for spiritual care. Results of the 2 (scenario gender) x 2 (scenario sexual orientation) x 2 (scenario mental health issue) x 2 (participant gender) MANOVA revealed significance for sexual orientation bias (Λ = .79, F (2, 88) = 11.94, p < .001, η2 = .21) and participant gender bias (Λ = .91, F (2, 88) = 4.13, p = .02, η2 = .09. Follow-up ANOVA's revealed different effects depending on whether participants reported personal or perceived group attitudes. We discuss the results in terms of social comparison theory and projection.

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