Impact of Military Downsizing on the Life Course of Russian Officers and Their Wives

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This is the second wave of a panel study of Russian army officers and their wives, about half of whom are leaving the service as a result of downsizing. Russian military downsizing is occurring under conditions of substantial economic privation and social change. This is a quasi-experimental study of changes in the life course of officers who will be discharged and their wives, compared to officers remaining in service and their wives. Fieldwork for Wave 1 surveys was carried out between October, 1995, and January, 1996, or 3-6 months prior to discharges. A total of 1,804 officers and 1,616 spouses were surveyed through an interview that measured many dimensions of their career, attitudes and beliefs concerning employment, plus the material and social-psychological situations of their families. This study will administer a follow-up survey in early 1997, approximately 15-18 months after the Wave 1 survey, thus greatly enriching the data set. By early 1997, some officers will be unemployed, some will be re-employed, and others who remain in the military will be witnessing the plight of their former fellow officers. The respondent sample is anticipated to include 1,530 officers and 1,374 spouses. This historically important downsizing will facilitate testing hypotheses from the life course perspective, the stress literature, and identity theories. The overall model includes (1) tracing effects of job loss on officers' career paths, family life (e.g., marital satisfaction and wife's employment), and psychological well-being; (2) exploring potential mediators (processes by which job disruption has effects) and moderators (specifying the scope of effects); (3) assessing effects of downsizing on "organizational survivors" (officers who are not discharged); and (4) examining effects on the family, especially wives. This research builds on American studies of the social psychological effects of job loss, thus contributing to the fundamental literature on stress and the w ays that human beings cope with it, with insights gained under conditions of greater tension than usually has been examined in previous work. The project has implications for foreign policy, because is vital to understand Russian military downsizing and the struggle of this vast nation to become a modern, democratic state. The success or failure of these transformations will determine the quality of the world environment and the course of global change.