Sharing Experiences and Stressors at Work and at Home: A Model of Work-Linked Couples

Work-linked couples are couples who are connected in some way by their work. We focus on understanding work-life experiences of one type of work-linked couple – dual-military couples, or those couples in which both spouses are enlisted or commissioned by the military. Our goal was to develop a model that not only explains and predicts dual-military couples’ experiences, but also extends beyond this specific group and provides a conceptual model for work-linked couples in all occupational settings. Data from 82 soldiers whose spouses were also in the military were collected during 19 focus groups. We conducted an inductive analysis on transcripts of the focus groups to guide the discovery of themes. Second, a deductive process was used to apply components of the dual-military model to themes that emerged during inductive coding. We identified a set of 11 specific themes, organized into the two main areas of Time and Planning and Boundary Separation and Integration. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.