Amy Laura Arnold’s research while affiliated with University of Georgia and other places

The effects of military couples’ (N = 219) financial management concerns on marital quality were investigated using an actor-partner interdependence model based on the family stress model. The influence of the mediating role of warm and hostile marital interactions was also investigated after accounting for multiple indicators of the military context, which are usually significant in the lives of military families. Individuals with higher levels of concern about financial management expressed less warmth and more hostility towards their partner. In turn, individuals exhibiting higher levels of warmth had spouses who reported greater marital quality.

This exploratory study utilizes a sample of human service providers and administrators to examine personal, agency, and collaborative readiness as predictors of training outcomes (utility reaction, gains in knowledge, and transfer of learning). The study is informed by the child welfare training evaluation model to address the effect of participants' (n = 58) readiness indicators and learning impact in relation to the transfer of learning that takes place following a one-day training. Participants' personal and agency readiness predicted their utility reaction, while personal readiness predicted gains in knowledge. The association between agency readiness and transfer of learning was partially mediated by utility reaction. Implications are drawn for both human service providers and researchers.

Healthy relationship education helps ameliorate the cycle of family fragmentation. Although provided in a variety of forms, scholars support that the most efficient way of promoting healthy relationship education is through integration within human services. The National Resource Center for Healthy Marriage and Families uses a workshop approach to assist human services providers to integrate healthy relationship skills into their preexisting service delivery methods. In this study, a "for whom does it work" approach was used to identify workshop participant (N = 40) characteristics that influenced learning impact and transfer of learning. Supervisors reported greater transfer of learning. Personal and agency readiness were predictive of learning impact. Barriers to integration, as well as implications for practice and research, are discussed.

The transitional nature of military life positions the family to serve as the primary and most stable influence for adolescents in military families. These military-related transitions and stressors may also put youth at risk for depression and academic challenges. This study examines the relative impact of family structure (family composition at a given time point) and family processes (interpersonal interactions developed over time) on important adolescent outcomes (depressive symptoms and academic performance) for a sample of military youth (N = 995). While family structure, particularly being part of a stepfamily or single-parent family, was related to greater depressive symptoms and poorer academic performance, family processes (family support and parent–adolescent connection) and personal resources (initiative) also accounted for depressive symptomology and academic performance. Importantly, when modeling family processes, no differences were found across family structures. Military youth thrive in diverse family forms in the presence of healthy family processes.

The accumulation of stressors is adversely related to adolescent well-being. Using the contextual model of family stress and the theory of community action and change, the authors explored normative and context-specific risks factors among adolescents from military families (N = 1,036) and the role of relationships (family, informal networks, formal systems) as protective factors. Youth who reported higher levels of cumulative risk experienced more depressive symptoms, lower academic performance, and lower persistence. When accounting for family support and presence of informal networks, depressive symptoms were lower, academic performance was higher, and persistence was higher; participation in formal systems was associated with better academic performance. The influential nature of cumulative risk was mitigated in the presence of meaningful relationships, providing support for empirically grounded leverage points to enhance positive youth development.

This study extends the family stress model by examining the influence of economic pressure on health and weight management behaviors mediated by depressive symptoms and spousal support among 506 African American married couples. The actor-partner interdependence model accounted for the interdependent nature of relationships. Findings support the family stress model; yet pathways differed slightly for husbands and wives. Economic pressure directly influenced depressive symptoms and spousal support. Spousal support was a buffer against poor health and weight management behaviors for husbands, while depressive symptoms exacerbated poor health and weight management behaviors for wives. These mechanisms have implications for practitioners who promote African American couples' well-being. © The Author(s) 2015.

Anchored in the social organization theory of action and change (Mancini & Bowen, 2013), this empirical analysis of military youth examines relationship provisions as related to youth outcomes of anxiety, depressive symptoms, personal well-being, and academic performance. Data were collected from parents and their adolescents, ages 11–18, living in the continental United States (N = 273 military families). Findings from this analysis of military youth indicated that the relationship provisions available to youth were implicated in more positive youth outcomes, and self-efficacy served as a mechanism linking relationship provisions to anxiety and school performance but not to depression and personal well-being. Policy and practice implications are provided, including the importance of establishing and sustaining youth programs and community initiatives that build on natural, informal networks.

Linkages between adverse childhood experiences and long-term consequences in servicemen and servicewomen were examined in relation to family-level resiliency processes predicted to mitigate this link. Using a pattern-based, multi-informant approach, resilience was explored through a systemic lens in relation to family-level processes. Latent family profiles were identified using diverse dimensions of family functioning guided by the circumplex model. Data were collected from parents and their adolescents, age 11 to 18, living in the continental United States (N = 273 military families). Variations in adverse childhood experiences among servicemembers and their partners were related to heterogeneous family functioning typologies (profiles). One adaptive family functioning typology illustrated that a select group of families with higher levels of early adverse experiences evinced adaptive functioning outcomes in multiple domains in adulthood. Implications for examining individual resilience via a family-level process and applications to educational and clinical contexts are discussed in relation to military and nonmilitary families.

The association between parental military work factors and adolescent's well-being was examined. Data were collected from 1036 military youth. Using a within-group design, we examined adolescent's well-being related to parental absence, school and neighbourhood transitions, paygrade/rank and participation in military-sponsored activities, and differentiated outcomes by sex and age. Two parental work factors primarily influenced adolescent's well-being, parental paygrade/rank and engagement in military-sponsored activities. Parental paygrade/rank was the only factor uniformly related to poorer well-being, and this variable likely represents a more complex set of family circumstances. Engaging in military-sponsored activities served as a resource and was related to enhanced well-being. Individual-level differences and implications for social workers are discussed.