Tracey Linegar Taylor, an advanced practice nurse in psychiatry and a retired Army nurse corps officer, contributed this article. She is a contractor with Deployment Health Clinical Center, a Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury center.

We’ve all heard relationships take work. Military marriages are no different. In fact, because of the unique stressors these families face, like multiple moves, deployments and combat-related injuries, military marriages may take more work.
 
So, how can military families maintain strong relationships and overcome threats to their marriages? One word: resilience. Families who are resilient are more likely to have stronger, lasting relationships. 

Characteristics of Resilient Families

In her book, “Strengthening Family Resilience,” resilience specialist Dr. Froma Walsh identifies nine characteristics that resilient families share. These characteristics highlight the family belief systems, organizational patterns, and communication and problem-solving skills that foster resilience.

• Finding meaning in adversity. Resilient families view crises as shared challenges that together they can understand, manage and make meaningful in some way. They see their emotions as human and understandable under the circumstances, and believe in their ability to learn from their experiences and move forward.
   
• Positive outlook. Resilient families have an optimistic view of life. Members see each other's strengths and offer encouragement to overcome difficulties or accept what can't be changed.
   
• Transcendence and spirituality. Resilient families have beliefs and values that offer meaning, purpose and connection beyond their personal lives and troubles. They find strength and comfort in their cultural and religious traditions and experience spiritual inspiration through a variety of ways, including nature, art, service to others, and faith in a higher power.
   
• Flexibility. Resilient families adapt to change. They're able to adjust their family roles and rules to fit new life challenges while maintaining the rituals and traditions that provide stability in their relationships. Their flexibility depends on strong yet nurturing leadership, guidance, protection of children and mutual respect in the marital relationship.
   
• Connectedness. Resilient families pull together during times of crisis. They're able to function as a team and support each other while respecting individual needs, differences and boundaries.
   
• Social and economic resources. When they can't solve problems on their own, resilient families reach out for help by turning to extended family, friends, neighbors, community services or counseling.
   
• Open emotional sharing. Resilient families accept and encourage a wide range of emotional expression in adults and children. Family members take responsibility for their own feelings and are accepting of other people’s feelings. 
   
• Clarity. Resilient families practice clear, consistent and honest communication.
   
• Collaborative problem solving. Resilient families manage their difficulties by working together to understand a problem and identify ways to solve it. They make decisions together in ways that allow family members to disagree, and then resolve those disagreements through negotiation and compromise.

Divorce: Not an Automatic Result for Rocky Military Marriages

If you’re feeling a little insecure about the success of your marriage, don’t think because you’re a military couple you’ll automatically end in divorce. Military marriages are no more likely than non-military marriages to end in divorce. 

A study by Benjamin Karney, a professor of social psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles, compared marriage and divorce rates of military personnel and civilians in the three years before and after the conflicts began in Afghanistan and Iraq. After accounting for differences in age, race, education and employment, the study revealed that despite a surge in overseas deployment from 2002-2005, divorce rates did NOT increase for service members. And, here’s more good news; as members of the military got older, they were even less likely to be divorced.

Family resiliency is an important factor in preventing marital problems and divorce. So, the next time you are faced with resiliency training, from the command or family readiness group, perk up and pay extra attention — it just might help strengthen or save your marriage.

This post originally appeared on the Military Pathways' blog.