Abstract
Military deployments can place stress on family members that can affect their physiological and psychological health. Although there has been much research on online social support in health-related groups, there is limited research on online social support in a deployment context. The researchers of this study conducted a content analysis of 151 discussion threads related to military deployments in an online forum for the significant others (SOs) of service members to examine the types of social support messages enacted between SOs. These enacted social support messages were further analyzed for each phase of the deployment cycle. Results showed that information and emotional support were the most frequent types of social support enacted by SOs during a deployment cycle. Information support was the most commonly requested type of social support during the pre-deployment and post-deployment phases, while emotional support was requested most often during the deployment phase. In response to the requests for social support, information support was the most commonly provided type of social support during the pre-deployment phase, while emotional support was the most commonly provided type of social support during the deployment and post-deployment phases.
Highlights
Military deployments can place stress on family members of deployed service members that can affect their physical and psychological health (Lester et al, 2012; Meadows et al, 2017), such as elevated levels of depression and anxiety (Knobloch, Knobloch-Fedders, Yongason, 2018; Verdeli et al, 2011), poor emotional functioning (Esposito-Smythers et al, 2011), and significant somatic symptoms (Burton, Farley, & Rhea, 2009)
Since military family members are oftentimes geographically separated from strong-tie networks such as family members, the availability of social support through weak-tie networks such as those found in online discussion forums, may be salient in mitigating the negative effects of deployment stress
There is limited research on how social support is enacted in online forums that could potentially help family members of deployed service members cope with the stressors of deployment
Summary
Military deployments can place stress on family members of deployed service members that can affect their physical and psychological health (Lester et al, 2012; Meadows et al, 2017), such as elevated levels of depression and anxiety (Knobloch, Knobloch-Fedders, Yongason, 2018; Verdeli et al, 2011), poor emotional functioning (Esposito-Smythers et al, 2011), and significant somatic symptoms (Burton, Farley, & Rhea, 2009). Since military family members are oftentimes geographically separated from strong-tie networks such as family members, the availability of social support through weak-tie networks such as those found in online discussion forums, may be salient in mitigating the negative effects of deployment stress. There is limited research on how social support is enacted in online forums that could potentially help family members of deployed service members cope with the stressors of deployment
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