Elizabeth C. Coppola

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious public health challenge with disproportionately high rates among United States (U.S.) Service Members and Veterans. IPV is often conceptualized as a unidirectional phenomenon despite evidence that most IPV is bidirectional, where both members of a couple use and experience IPV. This scoping review examined the current state of the literature on bidirectional IPV among Service Members and Veterans. MEDLINE, Embase, APA PsycInfo, APA PsyArticles, APA PsycExtra, CINAHL, CENTRAL, CDSR, Academic Search Premier, ERIC, Sociological Abstracts, PTSDpubs, ProQuest Dissertations & Abstracts, Scopus, and Web of Science databases were searched. Articles were selected based on the following inclusion criteria: (a) contains data on U.S. Service Members or Veterans over the age of 18; (b) measured IPV use (i.e., perpetration) and experience (i.e., victimization) during an overlapping period, and (c) reported bidirectional IPV at least once in either text, figures, or tables. Overall rates of bidirectional IPV across studies ( n = 21) ranged from 25% to 66.9%; rates disaggregated by subtype ranged from 1.5% (bidirectional sexual IPV) to 94% (bidirectional psychological IPV). There was considerable cross-study variation in measurement and operationalization. No studies contained data from both Service Members and Veterans in the same study. Higher rates of overall bidirectional IPV were documented among Veterans (range: 28.4%–66.9%) relative to Service Members (25%). These results highlight the need to collect data on the bidirectional IPV from Service Members and Veterans in the same study and consistent approaches to measuring and operationalizing bidirectional IPV.

Those who have served in the military are at heightened risk for intimate partner violence (IPV), defined as threatened or actual physical, sexual, or psychological abuse from a current or former romantic partner, relative to the general population. However, no known efforts have compared patterns of IPV use (i.e., perpetration) and IPV experience (i.e., victimization) disaggregated by current military affiliation (i.e., service member or veteran), nor have they compared patterns of unidirectional IPV (either IPV use or experience only) versus bidirectional IPV (i.e., concurrent IPV use and IPV experience) by military affiliation. Using dyadic data from United States service members, veterans, and their spouses who participated in the Millennium Cohort Family Study—the only Department of Defense-wide longitudinal study on military families—we compared rates and frequencies of IPV use, IPV experience, and IPV patterns between service members ( n = 2,301) and veterans ( n = 1,877). An estimated 37.6% of service members and 47.9% of veterans had any IPV experience; 36.4% of service members and 50.8% of veterans had any IPV use. Veterans had higher rates of IPV experience (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 1.43; 95% confidence interval [CI] [1.10, 1.85]) and IPV use (aOR: 1.67; 95% CI [1.29, 2.18]). After adjusting for bidirectionality, veterans had higher rates of bidirectional IPV (aOR: 1.62; 95% CI [1.22, 2.15]) and IPV use (aOR: 2.19; 95% CI [1.29, 3.27]), but not IPV experience. Veterans had an increase in the expected frequency of IPV experience by 47% (adjusted incidence rate ratios [IRR] = 1.47; 95% CI [1.19, 1.81]) and IPV use by 65% (IRR = 1.65, 95% CI [1.35, 2.00]), relative to service members. These findings underscore the value of investment in IPV prevention and treatment upon separation from military service, and the need for targeted programming and resources to address bidirectional IPV among both partners in a dyad.

Informed by life course theory, we estimated depression symptom trajectories for couples throughout a deployment cycle using data from a longitudinal study of National Guard couples (n= 339). One-third of couples served as a comparison group by participating in data collection after their deployments were canceled. We proposed that 1) service members and partners would display multiple trajectories of depression symptoms that differ as a function of role (i.e., service member or at-home partner) and exposure to deployment; 2) trajectory patterns would be associated with indicators of human capital; 3) service members’ and partners’ depression symptoms would be linked to each other. We found that depressive symptom trajectories varied by exposure to deployment and role, and that higher levels of human capital were mostly associated with lower depressive symptoms, although we did not find support for partner interdependence. Results were considered in the context of life course theory and emotional cycles of deployment.

This article aims to apply the social construction of target populations to policy regarding transgender individuals in the U.S. military. After presenting an overview on diversity in the military, parallels were drawn between policy changes regarding the inclusion of openly transgender individuals in the military to those leading up to the inclusion of sexual minorities in the military. This article then details the controversy regarding the inclusion of transgender service members and compares the rationale given for their exclusion from the U.S. military to existing empirical research. Finally, the present work applies the social construction of target populations—a framework for understanding the public policy process—to discourse and policy decisions regarding transgender individuals and sexual minorities. By doing so, this article illustrates this theoretical framework’s potential for illustrating the importance of social constructions in understanding the policy.