Today’s military encompasses a wide variety of families who are affected by deployments in multiple and complex ways. Following deployments, families must reconnect in their relationships and reestablish their way of life. Appropriate and effective communication during this time is critical, yet many military couples struggle with this process. Moreover, student service members/veterans and their families are in a unique position. In addition to coping with changes in their marital relationship, student veterans may feel isolated or unsupported on college campuses, often experiencing anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress, or suicidality. The current study seeks to bridge the gap between the military family literature and the student service member/veteran literature by examining how deployment experiences, mental health issues, and communication patterns influence post-deployment relationship adjustment among student veterans. Analyses tested whether communication style and/or current mental health concerns mediate associations between combat experiences and couples’ relationship adjustment, as well as between experiences in the aftermath of battle and relationship adjustment. Results suggest that although posttraumatic stress is significantly related to deployment experiences among student veterans, participants report no significant negative effects of deployment on relationship adjustment. Communication style, however, was significantly associated with relationship adjustment, and a lack of positive communication was …

Daily newspaper from Gainesville, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Weekly student newspaper from the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas that includes local, state, and campus news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Mount Pleasant, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Denton, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Denton, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Altus, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Monthly travel magazine discussing locations and events in Texas to encourage travel within the state.

Weekly newspaper from Timpson, Texas that includes local, state and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Henderson, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Denton, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Sapulpa, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Denton, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Denton, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper published for the military and civilian personnel of Fort Hood, that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Emory, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Henderson, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Denton, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

This creative nonfiction dissertation is a memoir that probes the complex life and death of the author’s father, who became addicted in his late forties to crack cocaine. While the primary concerns are the reasons and ways in which the father changed from a family man into a drug addict, the memoir is also concerned with themes of family life, childhood, and grief. After his father’s death, the author moves to Las Vegas and experiences similar addiction issues, which he then explores to help shed light on his father’s problems. To enrich the investigation, the author draws from eclectic sources, including news articles, literature, mythology, sociology, religion, music, TV, interviews, and inherited objects from his father. In dissecting the life of his father, the author simultaneously examines broader issues surrounding modern fatherhood, such as cultural expectations, as well as the problems of emptiness, isolation, and spiritual deficiency.