Journal of Traumatic Stress, Vol. 23, No. 5, October 2010, pp. 564–572 ( C  2010) Intimate Relationships Among Returning Soldiers: The Mediating and Moderating Roles of Negative Emotionality, PTSD Symptoms, and Alcohol Problems Laura A. Meis Center for Chronic Disease Outcomes Research, Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and University of Minnesota Medical School Christopher R. Erbes Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and University of Minnesota Medical School Melissa A. Polusny Center for Chronic Disease Outcomes Research, Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and University of Minnesota Medical School Jill S. Compton Duke University Medical Center Research examining relationship quality among combat veterans largely focuses on the role of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), with less attention devoted to other correlates of PTSD and relationship quality, such as personality and problematic drinking. In a sample of combat-exposed National Guard soldiers recently returned from Iraq ( N = 308), we examined (a) a meditational pathway from negative emotionality, to elevated postdeployment PTSD symptoms, to poorer relationship quality; and (b) the moderating role of problematic drinking. Moderated mediation regression strategies supported the mediating role of postdeployment PTSD symptoms, but not the moderating role of problematic drinking on soldiers’ relationship quality. Findings suggest negative emotionality creates a vulnerability to more severe early postdeployment PTSD symptoms and poorer early postdeployment relationship quality. Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Free- dom (OIF) veterans, especially those with mental health concerns, Laura A. Meis, Center for Chronic Disease Outcomes Research, Minneapolis Veterans Af- fairs Medical Center, and Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota Medical School; Christopher R. Erbes, Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and Department of Psychi- atry, University of Minnesota Medical School; Melissa A. Polusny, Center for Chronic Disease Outcomes Research, Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and Department of Psy- chiatry, University of Minnesota Medical School; Jill S. Compton, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center. This research was supported by grants from the Minnesota Medical Foundation (Grant #3662- 9227-06) and Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (W81XWH-07-2-0033). The authors would like to thank MAJ Cora Courage and COL Michael Rath for their assistance with subject recruitment for this project. We would also like to thank Dr. Paul Arbisi and Dr. Paul Thuras for their contributions to the RINGS study as well as Madhavi Reddy and numerous RINGS study research assistants for their assistance with data management. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to: Christopher Erbes, Minneapolis VA Medical Center; One Veterans Drive (116A6), Minneapolis, MN 55417. E-mail: Christopher.Erbes@va.gov. Published 2010. This article is a US Government work and is in the public domain in the USA. View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com DOI: 10.1002/jts.20560 are expressing growing difficulties with intimate relationships. Be- tween initial postdeployment mental health screenings, Milliken, Auchterlonie, and Hoge (2007) found concerns about interper- sonal relationships for OIF veterans increased at rates greater than any other concern assessed. Additionally, over 75% of partnered OEF and OIF veterans referred for Veterans Affairs (VA) behavioral health evaluations endorsed problems with romantic relationships or their children, and over 50% reported mild to moderate inti- mate partner violence (IPV; Sayers, Farrow, Ross, & Oslin, 2009). Consistent with previous generations of veterans (see Galovski & Lyons, 2004), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms among OEF and OIF veterans are associated with poorer rela- tionship satisfaction as reported by both male veterans and their female partners (Nelson Goff, Crow, Reisbig, & Hamilton, 2007; Renshaw, Rodrigues, & Jones, 2008). Efforts to understand how PTSD symptoms impact intimate relationships highlight specific PTSD symptoms, including emotional numbing, hyperarousal, and anger (see Galovski & Lyons, 2004 for review). Posttraumatic stress disorder-related emotional numbing may promote emotional 564