Abstract

Reintegration is an experience shrouded in unfamiliar emotions, behaviors, and adjustments. A successful homecoming requires service members and their families to adapt to the changes that have occurred during deployment. Current research on military family health focusing on intimate partner relationships tends to fall into two general categories. One body of literature examines the relationship between reintegration challenges and intimate partner violence (IPV). In contrast, an emerging body of literature looks at reintegration challenges as role conflict relative to role adjustment after periods of separation. This chapter provides an overview of each set of literature to evaluate how insights from both work together to address reintegration challenges faced by most service members and their intimate partners. The first two sections focus on the IPV frame. Specifically, this chapter critically reviews literature linking military training with post-deployment IPV. Next, it considers the role of military training in the creation and maintenance of the warrior ethos and rigid masculine identity. The third section expands on the notion of role conflict found in male gender role conflict (MGRC) to broaden the IPV frame. To address universal post-deployment reintegration challenges, enhanced cognitive flexibility is identified as one strategy for ameliorating rigid role identification.