Risk and Protective Factors Associated With Adjustment to Military Relocation: A Pilot Study

The findings offer insight into relocation stressors and facilitators and suggest the need to consider the stress of relocation from both a practical standpoint and an emotional one. Since the association between relocation variables and adjustment was evident even after accounting for rank, marital status, children, and first duty station, the results also suggest that intervening to address relocation stressors and enhance the level of relocation facilitators is important regardless of a soldier's specific demographics. Nonetheless, soldiers experiencing their first relocation may understandably require more support in addressing their relocation stressors. While limited by cross-sectional self-report data from only 2 military posts, this study produced the first military Relocation Stressor Scale and Relocation Facilitator Scale. Taken together, results suggest steps that leaders, unit members, and the organization can take to help incoming soldiers better adjust to their new unit.