Graduation Year

2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

M.A.

Degree Name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Degree Granting Department

Communication

Major Professor

Steve Wilson, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Ambar Basu, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Sonia Ivancic, Ph.D.

Keywords

military families, resilience, thematic analysis

Abstract

Military service members and their families encounter many obstacles throughout their time in the military (as well as before enlistment/commission and after service), ranging from those unique to the military community to those common within civilian families. Although how military families deal with these challenges/stressors and how to better support these families has been a salient research area, there is still room for expansion of knowledge. This study argues for expanding who is included in the definition of a “military family” to include a service member’s parents/parental figures and siblings, as well as enlarging the period of interest in military service of academia to include when service members first enter the military. In particular, this study focuses on the experiences and disruptions of military service members’ family members, specifically those families who have no prior experience with the military before one of their members joins (coined “first-time military family member”). Utilizing the framework of Buzzanell’s (2010) communication theory of resilience and Braun et al. (2019) reflexive thematic analysis, this study delves into how first-time military family members are affected by their SM’s military service and deepens how we see resilience constructed and enacted. Through 12 in-depth interviews of participants who had no generational or functional knowledge of the military before one of their family joins, this study seeks to examine how first-time military family members’ lives may be disrupted (emotionally, physically, financially) when they have no prior experience with military life and to understand how first-time military families (struggle to) enact resilience having no previous experience with the military. Findings demonstrate that due to an information deficit (not understanding why their family member joined, not knowing who to ask for information, what terms to use to ask for support or connect with others, or what to expect during certain periods in their family member’s military service) and material disruptions, first-time military families reject military identities and use processes established before their family member’s service to cope with military life.

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