Trait mindfulness and anger in the family: a dyadic analysis of male service members and their female partners

No Thumbnail Available
Authors
Zhang, Na
Piehler, Timothy F.
Gewirtz, Abigail H.
Zamir, Osnat
Snyder, James J.
Advisors
Issue Date
2019-05-13
Type
Article
Keywords
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Citation
Zhang, Na; Piehler, Timothy F.; Gewirtz, Abigail H.; Zamir, Osnat; Snyder, James J. 2019. Trait mindfulness and anger in the family: a dyadic analysis of male service members and their female partners. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy
Abstract

Anger-related problems have been documented among post-deployed service members who returned home, posing risks to their well-being and increasing distress in their families. Trait mindfulness (acting with awareness, nonjudging, and nonreactivity) has been associated with lower self-reported anger. Using actor–partner interdependence models, we tested the association between trait mindfulness and parental anger observed in parent–child and couple interactions. The sample consisted of 155 dyads of male National Guard/Reserve members who had been recently deployed and returned, and their female non-deployed partners. Results showed that fathers’ and mothers’ nonreactivity was negatively associated with their own observed anger, indicating that parents who reported higher nonreactivity exhibited lower anger. Mothers’ nonreactivity was also negatively associated with observed fathers’ anger in the same family such that fathers exhibited lower anger when their female partner reported higher nonreactivity. Nonreactivity facilitates emotion regulation and its cultivation may reduce anger in post-deployed military families.

Table of Contents
Description
Click on the DOI link to access the article (may not be free).
Publisher
Blackwell Publishing Inc.
Journal
Book Title
Series
Journal of Marital and Family Therapy;2019
PubMed ID
DOI
ISSN
0194-472X
EISSN