Deployment and the probability of spousal aggression by US Army soldiers

Objective: To determine the relationship between length of soldier deployme nt and self-reports of moderate and severe spousal violence. Methods: The C onflict Tactics Scale was used to measure self-reports of behaviors exhibit ed in marital conflict. Surveys were administered to a 15% random sample of 26,835 deployed and nondeployed married active duty U.S. Army men and wome n in the 50 United States during the period 1990 to 1994, Multinomial logis tic regression and ordered probit analysis were used to estimate the probab ilities of moderate and severe violence by length of deployment. Results: A fter controlling for demographic variables, the probability of severe aggre ssion was significantly greater for soldiers who had deployed in the past y ear compared with soldiers who had not deployed. Conclusions: Deployment co ntributes a significant but small increase to the probability of self-repor ted spousal aggression during a 1-year period. Although deployment is a mil itary operation, similar effects may be observed in certain civilian occupa tions.