Employment among UK military spouses during relocations and the influences on spouse well-being.

What is it about?

Repeated military relocations (accompanied postings) can have a detrimental effect on employment and well-being among the spouses and partners of military personnel. Interviews with 19 spouses of British Army/Royal Air Force personnel with recent experience of accompanied postings were used to explore this issue. Participants explained how employment contributed to an independent identity, enabling social connectedness, providing a sense of self-confidence and value but limiting agency over employment decisions. Spouse employment, and therefore, well-being could be improved by the provision of better childcare access or additional support in finding employment and training opportunities.

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Photo by ian dooley on Unsplash

Photo by ian dooley on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The paper identified themes that reflect how three psychological ‘needs’ of military spouses – competence/self-efficacy, relatedness (connectedness) and autonomy (agency) – are hindered or facilitated by employment during accompanied postings. While the findings highlight the challenges many military spouses face in finding and maintaining employment across relocations and the influence of these difficulties on their sense of identity and agency, there could also be benefits. Overcoming these challenges was important for some spouses to maintain a sense of identity or choice, whereas other spouses who were able to overcome perceived barriers and challenges to employment described positive influences on their well-being due to improved self-confidence and increased access to social connections