Abstract
Although individual and family strengths have been found to impact family maltreatment risk, optimal approaches to their assessment are lacking. To substantiate the utility of holistically assessing multiple strengths among active-duty Air Force members (i.e., Airmen) who might be at risk of perpetrating family maltreatment, the current study aimed to identify latent patterns of personal and family strengths among Airmen and assess associations with family maltreatment perpetration. A representative a sample of 30,187 Airmen from the 2011 Air Force Community Assessment Survey was used to identify patterns across latent-factor scores representing unit leader support, informal support, family functioning, individual fitness, and personal resilience. Latent profile analysis was conducted to extract an optimal number of response patterns and estimate associations with family maltreatment perpetration. A five-profile solution was optimal, representing patterns marked by low (10%), below average (26%), mixed (16%), above average (36%), and high (12%) levels of personal and family strengths. Predicted probabilities of family maltreatment among families not identifying as stepfamilies were 39%, 21%, 14%, 10%, and 8% across low, below average, mixed, above average, and high patterns, respectively. Among stepfamilies (20% of sample), predicted probabilities were 49%, 29%, 21%, 15%, and 12%, respectively. Findings encourage a holistic assessment of personal and family strengths among Airmen. The Personal and Family Strengths Inventory, which was developed to gauge these strengths, can position practitioners well to engage Airmen in conversations around strengths and growth opportunities for the purposes of service planning aimed at preventing family maltreatment.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Air Force Instruction 40-301. (2009, November 30). Family advocacy. Washington, DC: Department of the Air Force.
Alink, L. R., Cicchetti, D., Kim, J., & Rogosch, F. A. (2012). Longitudinal associations among child maltreatment, social functioning, and cortisol regulation. Developmental Psychology, 48, 224–236. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0024892.
Antonovsky, A., & Sourani, T. (1988). Family sense of coherence and family adaptation. Journal of Marriage and Family, 50, 79–92. https://doi.org/10.2307/352429.
Asparouhov, T., & Muthén, B. (2014). Auxiliary variables in mixture modeling: Three-step approaches using Mplus. Structural Equation Modeling, 21, 329–341. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705511.2014.915181.
Bowen, G. L., Bowen, N. K., & Cook, P. G. (2000). Neighborhood characteristics and supportive parenting among single mothers. In G. Fox & M. Benson (Eds.), Families, crime, and criminal justice (Vol. 2, pp. 183–206). New York: Elsevier Science, Inc.. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1530-3535(00)80012-6.
Bowen, G. L., Jensen, T. M., & Martin, J. A. (2016a). A measure of comprehensive airman fitness: Construct validation and invariance across Air Force service components. Military Behavioral Health, 4, 149–158. https://doi.org/10.1080/21635781.2015.1133345.
Bowen, G., Jensen, T., & Martin, J. A. (2016b). Confirmatory factor analysis of a measure of comprehensive airman fitness. Military Behavioral Health, 4, 409–419. https://doi.org/10.1080/21635781.2016.1199984.
Bowen, G., Jensen, T., & Martin, J. (2019). Standing strong in the context of organizational and family demands: A measure of USAF civilian spouse fitness. In R. Moelker, M. Andres, & N. Rones (Eds.), The politics of military families: State, work organizations, and the rise of the negotiation household (pp. 211–230). New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429026492-15.
Bowen, G. L., Jensen, T. M., Martin, J. A., & Mancini, J. A. (2016). The willingness of military members to seek help: The role of social involvement and social responsibility. American Journal of Community Psychology, 57, 203–215. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12030.
Bowen, G., Jensen, T., & Williams, B. (2017). Prevention of family maltreatment in the U.S. Air Force: A systematic review of research on active duty military personnel. Journal of Family Social Work, 20, 52–80. https://doi.org/10.1080/10522158.2016.1259137.
Bowen, G. L., & Martin, J. A. (2011). The resiliency model of role performance for service members, veterans, and their families: A focus on social connections and individual assets. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 21, 162–178. https://doi.org/10.1080/10911359.2011.546198.
Bowles, S. V., Pollock, L. D., Moore, M., MacDermid Wadsworth, S., Cato, C., Dekle, J. W., et al. (2015). Total force fitness: The military family fitness model. Military Medicine, 180, 246–258. https://doi.org/10.7205/MILMED-D-13-00416.
Brodsky, A. E. (1996). Resilient single mothers in risky neighborhoods: Negative psychological sense of com- munity. Journal of Community Psychology, 24, 347–363. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1520-6629(199610)24:4<347::AID-JCOP5>3.0.CO;2-R.
Coker, A. L., Davis, K. E., Arias, I., Desai, S., Sanderson, M., Brandt, H. M., & Smith, P. H. (2002). Physical and mental health effects of intimate partner violence for men and women. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 23, 260–268. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0749-3797(02)00514-7.
Collins, L. M., & Lanza, S. T. (2010). Latent class and latent transition analysis for the social, behavior, and health sciences. New York: Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470567333.
Conger, R. D., Conger, K. J., & Martin, M. J. (2010). Socioeconomic status, family processes, and individual development. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72(3), 685–704. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00725.x.
Cox, M. J., & Paley, B. (1997). Families as systems. Annual Review of Psychology, 48(1), 243–267. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.48.1.243.
Department of Defense. (2019). 2018 demographics: Profile of the military community. Retrieved from: https://www.militaryonesource.mil/data-research-and-statistics/military-community-demographics/2018-demographics-profile
Ganong, L. H., & Coleman, M. (2017). Stepfamily relationships: Development, dynamics, and interventions (2nd ed.). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-7702-1.
Gjesfjeld, C. D., Greeno, C. G., Kim, K. H., & Anderson, C. M. (2010). Economic stress, social support, and maternal depression: Is social support deterioration occurring? Social Work Research, 34, 135–143. https://doi.org/10.1093/swr/34.3.135.
Henry, C. S., Sheffield Morris, A., & Harrist, A. W. (2015). Family resilience: Moving into the third wave. Family Relations, 64(1), 22–43. https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12106.
Hom, M. A., Stanley, I. H., Schneider, M. E., & Joiner Jr., T. E. (2017). A systematic review of help-seeking and mental health service utilization among military service members. Clinical Psychology Review, 53, 59–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2017.01.008.
Hourani, L., Williams, J., Bray, R., & Kandel, D. (2015). Gender differences in the expression of PTSD symptoms among active duty military personnel. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 29, 101–108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2014.11.007.
Jaccard, J., & Levitz, N. (2016). Parent-based interventions to reduce adolescent problem behaviors: New directions for self-regulation approaches. In G. Oettingen & P. Gollwitzer (Eds.), Self-regulation in adolescence. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Jensen, T. (2017). Constellations of dyadic relationship quality in stepfamilies: A factor mixture model. Journal of Family Psychology, 31, 1051–1062. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000355.
Jensen, T. (2020). Stepfamily processes and youth adjustment: The role of perceived neighborhood collective efficacy. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 30, 545–561. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12498.
Jensen, T., & Bowen, G. (2018). The prevention of family maltreatment among airmen: A focus on personal resilience. Journal of Family Social Work, 21, 129–151. https://doi.org/10.1080/10522158.2017.1410270.
Jensen, T., Bowen, G., & U.S. Air Force Family Advocacy Program. (2019). Personal and family strengths inventory (PFSI). University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Air Force Medical Readiness Agency.
Jensen, T. M., & Bowen, G. L. (2020). Correlates of help-seeking intentions among airmen in the context of family maltreatment perpetration: Practical barriers as a moderating influence. Journal of Family Violence. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-020-00186-w.
Jensen, T., & Howard, M. (2015). Perceived stepparent-child relationship quality: A systematic review of stepchildren's perspectives. Marriage & Family Review, 51, 99–153. https://doi.org/10.1080/01494929.2015.1006717.
Jensen, T., Lombardi, B., & Larson, J. (2015). Adult attachment and stepparenting issues: Couple relationship quality as a mediating factor. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 56, 80–94. https://doi.org/10.1080/10502556.2014.972201.
Jensen, T., Shafer, K., & Larson, J. (2014). (Step)parenting attitudes and expectations: Implications for stepfamily functioning and clinical intervention. Families in Society. The Journal of Contemporary Social Services, 95, 213–220. https://doi.org/10.1606/1044-3894.2014.95.27.
Kainz, K., Jensen, T., & Zimmerman, S. (2018). Cultivating a research tool kit for social work doctoral education. Journal of Social Work Education, 54(4), 792–807. https://doi.org/10.1080/10437797.2018.1434446.
MacDermid Wadsworth, S. M. (2010). Family risk and resilience in the context of war and terrorism. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72, 537–556. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00717.x.
Maguen, S., Cohen, B., Ren, L., Bosch, J., Kimerling, R., & Seal, K. (2012). Gender differences in military sexual trauma and mental health diagnoses among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with post traumatic stress disorder. Women's Health Issues, 22, e61–e66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.whi.2011.07.010.
Mancini, J., & Bowen, G. (2013). Families and communities: A social organization theory of action and change. In G. Peterson & K. Bush (Eds.), Handbook of marriage and the family (3rd ed., pp. 781–812). New York: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3987-5_32.
Mancini, J., O'Neal, C., Martin, J., & Bowen, G. (2018). Community social organization and military families: Theoretical perspectives on transitions, contexts, and resilience. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 10, 550–565. https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.12271.
Martin, J. A., & Bowen, G. L. (2003). 2002 Air Force Community Assessment: Reference matrix (doc. No. F41622-03-M-1026). San Antonio, TX: Brooks Air Force (AFMOA/SGZF).
Meyer, E. G., Writer, B. W., & Brim, W. (2016). The importance of military cultural competence. Current Psychiatry Reports, 18, 26.
Michalopoulou, L. E., Welsh, J. A., Perkins, D. F., & Ormsby, L. (2017). Stigma and mental health service utilization in military personnel: A review of the literature. Military Behavioral Health, 5, 12–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/21635781.2016.1200504.
Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (2012). Mplus user's guide (7th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Muthen & Muthen. Retrieved from https://www.statmodel.com/download/usersguide/Mplus%20user%20guide%20Ver_7_r3_web.pdf
Noah, A. J. (2015). Putting families into place: Using neighborhood-effects research and activity spaces to understand families. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 7, 452–467. https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.12119.
Norman, R. E., Byambaa, M., De, R., Butchart, A., Scott, J., & Vos, T. (2012). The long-term health consequences of child physical abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS Medicine, 9, e1001349. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001349.
Norton, R. (1983). Measuring marital quality: A critical look at the dependent variable. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 45, 141–151. https://doi.org/10.2307/351302.
Nylund-Gibson, K., & Masyn, K. E. (2016). Covariates and mixture modeling: Results of a simulation study exploring the impact of misspecified effects on class enumeration. Structural Equation Modeling, 23, 782–797. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705511.2016.1221313.
Pace, G., Shafer, K., Jensen, T., & Larson, J. (2015). Stepparenting issues and relationship quality: The role of clear communication. Journal of Social Work, 15, 24–44. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468017313504508.
Papernow, P. (2013). Surviving and thriving in stepfamily relationships: What works and what doesn't. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203813645.
Papernow, P. (2018). Clinical guidelines for working with stepfamilies: What family, couple, individual, and child therapists need to know. Family Process, 57, 25–51. https://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12321.
Pflieger, J. C., Porter, B., Carballo, C. E., Stander, V. A., & Corry, N. H. (2020). Patterns of strengths in U.S. military couples. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 29, 1249–1263. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-019-01593-4.
Radloff, L. S. (1977). The CES-D scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1, 385–401. https://doi.org/10.1177/014662167700100306.
Riina, E. M., Lippert, A., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2016). Residential instability, family support, and parent-child relationships among ethnically diverse urban families. Journal of Marriage and Family, 78, 855–870. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12317.
Rosa, E. M., & Tudge, J. (2013). Urie Bronfenbrenner's theory of human development: Its evolution from ecology to bioecology. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 5, 243–258. https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.12022.
Shafer, K., Jensen, T., Pace, G., & Larson, J. (2013). Former spouse ties and post-divorce relationship quality: Relationship effort as a mediator. Journal of Social Service Research, 39, 629–645. https://doi.org/10.1080/01488376.2013.834284.
Smith Slep, A. M., Foran, H. M., Heyman, R. E., & Snarr, J. D. (2010). Unique risk and protective factors for partner aggression in a large scale Air Force survey. Journal of Community Health, 35, 375–383. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-010-9264-3.
Smith Slep, A. M., Foran, H. M., Heyman, R. E., Snarr, J. D., & U.S. Air Force Family Advocacy Program. (2011). Risk factors for clinically significant intimate partner violence among active-duty members. Journal of Marriage and Family, 73, 486–501. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00820.x.
Sullivan, K. S., Hawkins, S. A., Gilreath, T. D., & Castro, C. A. (2020). Mental health outcomes associated with profiles of risk and resilience among U.S. Army spouses. Journal of Family Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000702https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000702.
Suris, A., & Lind, L. (2008). Military sexual trauma: A review of prevalence and associated health consequences in veterans. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 9, 250–269. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838008324419.
Zinzow, H. M., Britt, T. W., Pury, C. L., Raymond, M. A., McFadden, A. C., & Burnette, C. M. (2013). Barriers and facilitators of mental health treatment seeking among active-duty army personnel. Military Psychology, 25, 514–535. https://doi.org/10.1037/mil0000015.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported with a subaward through Kansas State University (Grant # 2017-39575-27343) from the U.S. Air Force Family Advocacy Program (AFMOA/SGHW). The views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Air Force, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Appendix
Appendix
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jensen, T.M., Bowen, G.L. & King, E.L. Associations between Family Maltreatment Perpetration and Latent Profiles of Personal and Family Strengths among Active-Duty Air Force Members. J Fam Viol 37, 407–421 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-021-00274-5
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-021-00274-5