Long Distance Military and Civilian Relationships: Women's Perceptions of the Impact of Communication Technology and Military Culture

Smith-Osborne, Alexa; Jani, Jayshree

doi:10.1080/21635781.2014.963759

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 53 publications

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“…Qualitative literature of SMs and partners offer preliminary support for niche theory, in that couples may be choosing different communication media for distinct topics of communication. Some partners report that synchronous communication (e.g., phone calls, video calls) is often used for more shallow and quick conversations (Smith-Osborne & Jani, 2014). Also, synchronous communication may be less suited for love and problem talk, due to the lack of privacy that many SMs have when having phone or video conversations (MacDermid et al, 2005) and concerns of operation safety (Hinojosa, Hinojosa, & Hognas, 2012).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Something to talk about: Topics of conversation between romantic partners during military deployments.

Carter¹,

Osborne²,

Renshaw³

et al. 2018

Journal of Family Psychology

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Long-distance communication has been frequently identified as essential to military couples trying to maintain their relationship during a deployment. Little quantitative research, however, has assessed the types of topics discussed during such communication and how those topics relate to overall relationship satisfaction. The current study draws on a sample of 56 Army couples who provided data through online surveys while the service member was actively deployed. These couples provided information on current marital satisfaction, topics discussed during deployment (problem talk, friendship talk, love talk), and how they communicated via synchronous media (e.g., phone calls, video calls) and letters during deployment. Nonparametric Friedman tests followed by paired t tests revealed that synchronous communication was primarily utilized for friendship talk, whereas letters included friendship talk and love talk in similar amounts. Both synchronous communication and letters included less problem talk than other topics. In mixed-level modeling, only topics of communication for synchronous media (not for letters) were related to relationship satisfaction. Love talk via synchronous media was related to higher relationship satisfaction, whereas problem talk via synchronous media was related to less relationship satisfaction. The current study offers the first quantitative assessment of topics within deployment communication media and associations with relationship satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Something to talk about: Topics of conversation between romantic partners during military deployments.

Carter¹,

Osborne²,

Renshaw³

et al. 2018

Journal of Family Psychology

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Toughened Love: The US Military, ‘Resilience’ and the Instrumentalization of Romantic Intimacy

Carruthers

2022

Resilience

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Operation ‘Long Distance Parenting’: the moral struggles of being a Danish soldier and father

Heiselberg

2018

Gender, Place & Culture

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This article explores how Danish soldiers and fathers combine their moral responsibilities with international military deployment. Based on ethnographic fieldwork among Danish soldiers and their families, I demonstrate how soldiering and fatherhood exist as conflicting gendered moral discourses in the lives of Danish soldier-fathers. I argue that military deployment becomes a situation of moral conflict where Danish soldier-fathers struggle to balance their moral engagements as both professional soldiers and present and involved fathers. Rather than looking at military deployment as a temporally and spatially bounded experience, I suggest it is more useful to understand deployment as a life circumstance that continuously forces soldier-fathers to make conscious moral decisions. From this perspective, I explore two strategies used by Danish soldier-fathers to maintain their social and moral engagement as both soldiers and fathers. Firstly, I demonstrate how soldier-fathers create alternative narratives of 'good' fatherhood by challenging a moral discourse of the physically present father. Secondly, I show how online technologies simultaneously become a strategy for soldier-fathers to 'be there' as fathers during deployment as well as a trigger of moral concern when the fathers are unable to provide the support needed on the home front. The aim of the article is thus to demonstrate how Danish soldier-fathers navigate conflicting moral terrains, as well as how they negotiate and challenge existing gendered norms and moralities through their continuous struggles.

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Long Distance Military and Civilian Relationships: Women's Perceptions of the Impact of Communication Technology and Military Culture

Cited by 3 publications

References 53 publications

Something to talk about: Topics of conversation between romantic partners during military deployments.

Something to talk about: Topics of conversation between romantic partners during military deployments.

Toughened Love: The US Military, ‘Resilience’ and the Instrumentalization of Romantic Intimacy

Operation ‘Long Distance Parenting’: the moral struggles of being a Danish soldier and father

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