Military children and families: strengths and challenges during peace and war

Throughout history, military children and families have shown great capacity for adaptation and resilience. However, in recent years, unprecedented lengthy and multiple combat deployments of service members have posed multiple challenges for U.S. military children and families. Despite needs to better understand the impact of deployment on military children and families and to provide proper support for them, rigorous research is lacking. Programs exist that are intended to help, but their effectiveness is largely unknown. They need to be better coordinated and delivered at the level of individuals, families, and communities. Research and programs need to take a comprehensive approach that is strengths based and problem focused. Programs for military children and families often focus on the prevention or reduction of problems. It is just as important to recognize their assets and to promote them. This article reviews existing research on military children and families, with attention to their strengths as well as their challenges. Issues in need of further research are identified, especially research into programs that assist military children and families. Military children and families deserve greater attention from psychology.     

Family Systems and Ecological Perspectives on the Impact of Deployment on Military Families

The scope of sustained military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan has placed great demands on the Armed Forces of the United States, and accordingly, military families have been faced with deployments in more rapid succession than ever before. When military parents fulfill occupational duties during wartime, military children and families face multiple challenges, including extended separations, disruptions in family routines, and potentially compromised parenting related to traumatic exposure and subsequent mental health problems. Such challenges can begin to exert a significant toll on the well-being of both individuals and relationships (e.g., marital, parent–child) within military families. In order to respond more effectively to the needs of military families, it is essential that mental health clinicians and researchers have a better understanding of the challenges faced by military families throughout the entire deployment experience and the ways in which these challenges may have a cumulative impact over multiple deployments. Moreover, the mental health field must become better prepared to support service members and families across a rapidly evolving landscape of military operations around the world, including those who are making the transition from active duty to Veteran status and navigating a return to civilian life and those families in which parents will continue to actively serve and deploy in combat zones. In this article, we utilize family systems and ecological perspectives to advance our understanding of how military families negotiate repeated deployment experiences and how such experiences impact the well-being and adjustment of families at the individual, dyadic, and whole family level.     

Relationship Education for Military Couples: Recommendations for Best Practice

Military couples have a number of distinctive strengths and challenges that are likely to influence their relationship adjustment. Military couples' strengths include stable employment, financial security, and subsidized health and counseling services. At the same time, military couples often experience long periods of separation and associated difficulties with emotional disconnect, trauma symptoms, and reintegrating the family. This paper describes best practice recommendations for working with military couples, including: addressing the distinctive challenges of the military lifestyle, ensuring program delivery is seen as relevant by military couples, and providing relationship education in formats that enhance the accessibility of programs.     

Long-Term Trajectories and Service Needs for Military Families

The deployment of US military personnel to recent conflicts has been a significant stressor for their families; yet, we know relatively little about the long-term family effects of these deployments. Using data from prior military service eras, we review our current understanding of the long-term functioning and needs of military families. These data suggest that overseas deployment, exposure to combat, experiencing or participating in violence during war deployment, service member injury or disability, and combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) all have profound impacts on the functioning of military families. We offer several recommendations to address these impacts such as the provision of family-centered, trauma-informed resources to families of veterans with PTSD and veterans who experienced high levels of combat and war violence. Recent efforts to address the needs of caregivers of veterans should be evaluated and expanded, as necessary. We should also help military families plan for predictable life events likely to challenge their resilience and coping capacities. Future research should focus on the following: factors that mediate the relationship between PTSD, war atrocities, caregiver burden, and family dysfunction; effective family-centered interventions that can be scaled-up to meet the needs of a dispersed population; and system-level innovations necessary to ensure adequate access to these interventions.     

Family-Centered Care to Promote Successful Community Reintegration After War: It Takes a Nation

The papers in this section focus on public health responses and implementation considerations in addressing the challenges military families confront when parents go to war. While many military families show resilience, the challenges resulting from a decade of war with multiple deployments are detailed, as are innovative military and civilian programs designed to help service members and their families reintegrate successfully into the community. As more and more service members leave active duty, the burden of meeting military families’ psychological needs will transition from the Department of Defense (DoD) and into the Veterans Administration (VA) and civilian arenas. While many strategies to support successful readjustment are offered, in this time of dwindling mental health resources and competing needs, it is unclear what priority the broader society places on meeting the needs of returning service members and their families. A growing emphasis on family-centered care in the Veterans Administration may help meet this gap.     

Military Family Advocacy in the U.S. Army: Program Service Outcomes and Family Participation

Violence in military families remains a vexing problem. Since the advent of the Global War on Terror, there is inconsistent evidence that the prevalence of family violence is increasing, particularly during and after military deployments. However, child neglect appears to increase significantly during military deployments. The military has developed family advocacy programs designed to keep families safe and intervene to reduce the deleterious effects of exposure to family violence. This is one of the first studies to examine the quality with which a family advocacy program is implemented and the degree to which families engage with the program. To conduct this study, the case files of 226 families who came in contact with the Army Family Advocacy Program (FAP) and whose cases were closed in 2013 were reviewed and coded across several implementation and service outcomes. These included involvement of qualified staff, whether or not appropriate victim and offender assessments were completed, degree of inter-agency communication, and appropriateness of referrals, among others. Soldier and family member participation in FAP and other Army-sponsored programs designed to reduce violence was also assessed. Generally speaking, the Army Family Advocacy Program was implemented with high quality, established processes and procedures for handling cases were largely followed, and FAP staff responded rapidly and thoroughly to reported abuse. However, family engagement with Army services and supports was low. Developing robust approaches to engaging families in family programming must be a high priority going forward.     

Military Stressors,Parent-Adolescent Relationship Quality,and Adolescent Adjustment

Elements of military life can create challenges for all family members, including military-connected adolescents, and can have detrimental consequences for their adjustment. Although research with samples of military-connected adolescents has examined the influences of military stressors for adolescent adjustment (e.g., depressive symptoms, anxiety), less research has identified possible mechanisms responsible for these effects, particularly the role of specific familial factors. Drawing from social ecological theory and attachment theory, we examined the associations between military stressors (e.g., parental rank, combat deployments, permanent change of station moves) and self-reported adolescent adjustment (e.g., depressive symptoms, self-efficacy) along with examining adolescents’ perceptions of parent-adolescent relationship quality with both the active duty and civilian parent as a linking mechanism. Using a path analysis, data from 265 Army families were examined to identify the direct and indirect associations between military stressors and adolescent adjustment through parent-adolescent relationship quality. Most military stressors were not significantly related to relationship quality of either parent or indicators of adolescent adjustment. However, parent-adolescent relationship quality with each parent (active duty and civilian parent) was uniquely related to adolescents’ adjustment. Discussion is provided regarding how military stressors and familial factors are conceptualized within the context of military families and implications for future research, family therapy, and policies are suggested.

     

Enhancing Family Resilience Through Family Narrative Co-construction

We draw upon family resilience and narrative theory to describe an evidence-based method for intervening with military families who are impacted by multiple wartime deployments and psychological, stress-related, or physical parental injuries. Conceptual models of familial resilience provide a guide for understanding the mechanics of how families respond and recover from exposure to extreme events, and underscore the role of specific family processes and interaction patterns in promoting resilient capabilities. Leading family theorists propose that the family’s ability to make meaning of stressful and traumatic events and nurture protective beliefs are critical aspects of resilient adaptation. We first review general theoretical and empirical research contributions to understanding family resilience, giving special attention to the circumstances, challenges, needs, and strengths of American military families. Therapeutic narrative studies illustrate the processes through which family members acquire meaning-making capacities, and point to the essential role of parents’ in facilitating discussions of stressful experiences and co-constructing coherent and meaningful narratives. This helps children to make sense of these experiences and develop capacities for emotion regulation and coping. Family-based narrative approaches provide a structured opportunity to elicit parents’ and children’s individual narratives, assemble divergent storylines into a shared family narrative, and thereby enhance members’ capacity to make meaning of stressful experiences and adopt beliefs that support adaptation and growth. We discuss how family narratives can help to bridge intra-familial estrangements and re-engage communication and support processes that have been undermined by stress, trauma, or loss. We conclude by describing a family-based narrative intervention currently in use with thousands of military children and families across the USA.     

Challenges Faced by Military Families: Perceptions of United States Marine Corps School Liaisons

The global war on terror has placed a number of stressful demands on service members and their families. Although the military offers a wide range of services and supports to military families, not all families are willing or able to use them. For example, geographically dispersed families can find it challenging to connect with military support resources. School liaison programs (SLPs) were developed by the military to foster the development of local partnerships to enhance the academic success of military children. In this study, all 20 Marine Corps school liaisons (SLs) reported on the frequency and severity of stressors experienced by Marine families. We hypothesized that SLs would encounter families contending with a broad array of challenges, well beyond those related to academics. Indeed, SLs reported that military families sought assistance for a wide array of stressors. School transition stressors were most common for children and youth, while deployment-related stress was most common for Marine families. Despite the limitations of this study, the results suggest that families using the Marine SLPs may be a vulnerable group. Military–school–community partnerships may hold out promise for filling in service gaps faced by those military families experiencing high levels of stressor exposure and low levels of coping resources.     

Adolescents in Wartime US Military Families: A Developmental Perspective on Challenges and Resources

Adolescents in wartime US military families are a unique group of young people who are experiencing the usual milestones of adolescent development, including establishing their identities and becoming autonomous, while they face the challenges of military life such as multiple frequent moves, relocation, and parent deployment to combat settings. This paper reviews research on adolescents in wartime US military families, within the context of adolescent development, to identify their behavioral, emotional and academic risk status, and challenges and resources. Recommendations for future research and interventions to foster the healthy development of these adolescents are also provided.     

Competence, Risk, and Resilience in Military Families: Conceptual Commentary

This commentary highlights conceptual themes in the opening section of this special issue on military families in relation to a new synthesis of developmental systems theory that emerged from developmental, ecological, and family systems theory, as well as developmental psychopathology and risk/resilience frameworks. Articles in this special issue draw on these concepts to characterize and guide the burgeoning research on military families. This perspective emphasizes that multiple dynamic systems interact across levels to shape individual development, as well as the function of families and military units. Developmental timing is important for understanding how challenges of military life may impact individuals and families. Cascade effects are noted, where stress experienced by one family or service member can influence the function of other individuals or larger systems. Capacity for resilience is distributed across systems, including families and cultures, as well as resources or supports provided by military organizations to foster adaptive responses or recovery. These systems include schools and educational programs that play key roles in fostering and supporting resilience for children. Overall, developmental system concepts have considerable utility for guiding research with military families, particularly in regard to promoting resilience. Moreover, lessons learned from military families and programs may have much broader implications for many other nonmilitary children, families, and organizations that share similar goals and challenges.     

Siblings of Military Servicemembers: A Qualitative Exploration of Individual and Family Systems Reactions

How does having a sibling in the military affect young adults? Despite increasing attention to the challenges faced by spouses and children of servicemembers, the siblings of servicemembers have been largely ignored. This qualitative investigation uses unstructured narratives to explore siblings' perceptions of changes in their lives and changes in the family of origin associated with having a family member enlist in the United States military. Thematic analyses revealed an acute period of conflict followed by reorganization, awareness of the parents' distress, changes in the emotional climate of the family, shifts in family roles, admiration for the military sibling, and increased meaning and purpose for the family following the servicemember's enlistment. Computer-assisted text analyses revealed both positive and negative emotional content associated with the siblings' military service. For professional psychologists who come into contact with siblings of servicemembers, it is important to recognize that military enlistment can have ripple effects and complicate other common individual and family stresses. More generally, it is important to provide siblings and the family of origin with information about what to expect during and after the servicemember's enlistment, especially since these families may lack support and contact from others going through similar transitions.     

STRONG MILITARY FAMILIES INTERVENTION ENHANCES PARENTING REFLECTIVITY AND REPRESENTATIONS IN FAMILIES WITH YOUNG CHILDREN

Military families face many challenges due to deployment and parental separation, and this can be especially difficult for families with young children. The Strong Military Families (SMF) intervention is for military families with young children, and consists of two versions: the Multifamily Group, and a Home‐based psychoeducational written materials program. The Multifamily Group was designed to enhance positive parenting through both educational components and in vivo feedback and support during separations and reunions between parents and children (n = 78 parents). In the present study, we examine parenting reflectivity and mental representations in mothers versus fathers in military families, service members versus civilian spouses/parenting partners, and before versus after participation in the SMF Multifamily Group and Home‐based interventions. Parenting reflectivity and mental representations were coded from the Working Model of the Child Interview (WMCI; C.H. Zeanah & D. Benoit, 1995). Results suggest that neither parenting reflectivity nor WMCI typology differs between mothers and fathers in military families, or between service members and civilian parenting partners. Furthermore, there was substantial stability in parenting reflectivity and WMCI typology from baseline to posttest, but participation in the Multifamily Group, relative to Home‐based, was associated with improvements in both parenting reflectivity and WMCI ratings from baseline to postintervention.     

Preparing for Deployment: Examining Family- and Individual-Level Factors

Deployment can be a significant source of stress for military families. Understanding how families prepare in the face of such stress, and which families are more versus less likely to prepare, is a priority of the Department of Defense. However, there has been scant research on how families prepare for deployments and the factors associated with engagement in preparation activities. The current study is a cross-sectional examination of the proportion of households engaging in deployment preparation activities and family-level and individual-level factors that are associated with these activities in a large and representative sample of married, deployable service members and their families from all military services and components (n = 1,621). Overall, results showed that families reported high rates of engaging in preparation activities, with particularly strong engagement in financial and legal preparation tasks. Talking about deployment to prepare a spouse or child was also relatively highly endorsed but not as frequently cited compared to other logistical preparation activities. Older spouses, officers, active component families, and those with higher marital satisfaction reported greater participation in preparation activities. Families with greater socioemotional difficulties, as indexed by child emotional problems or greater depressive symptoms in the service member or spouse, as well as those with lower spouse-reported marital satisfaction, were more likely to seek professional help. Evaluating the effectiveness of programs in reaching the families that may be least likely to prepare, as well as examining the longitudinal association between deployment preparation and postdeployment family adjustment, is an important area for further inquiry.     

Impact of Social Networking Sites on Children in Military Families

Youth in military families experience a relatively unique set of stressors that can put them at risk for numerous psychological and behavior problems. Thus, there is a need to identify potential mechanisms by which children can gain resiliency against these stressors. One potential mechanism that has yet to be empirically studied with military youth is social networking sites (SNSs). SNSs have gained significant popularity among society, especially youth. Given the significance of these communication tools in youths’ lives, it is important to analyze how SNS use may affect military youth and their ability to cope with common military life stressors. The current review examines the potential positive and negative consequences associated with SNS use in coping with three common stressors of youth in military families: parent deployment, frequent relocation, and having a family member with a psychological or physical disability. By drawing from SNS and military literature, we predict that SNS use can be a positive tool for helping children in military families to cope with stressors. However, certain SNS behaviors can potentially result in more negative outcomes. Recommendations for future research are also discussed.     

The contributions of child–mother attachment,maternal parenting stress,and military status to the prediction of child behavior problems

Studies show that children with a military parent are at heightened risk of the development of behavior problems. However, there is limited work examining how other factors experienced by military families may also influence behavior problems. In the current study, we recruited three types of Canadian families with a preschooler: families with a deployed military member, families with a nondeployed military member, and nonmilitary families. We examined whether the nonmilitary parent's (in all cases the mother) parenting stress and attachment relationship with the child are associated with behavior problems, and whether deployment status further contributes to the prediction. Child–mother dyads participated in an observed attachment assessment, and mothers reported on their stress levels and their child's behavior. Results showed that both child attachment insecurity and parenting stress were associated with elevated levels of internalizing problems; however, only parenting stress was associated with conduct problems. Military deployment predicted higher levels of internalizing and conduct problems beyond the contributions of attachment and stress. Furthermore, having a father in the military (whether deployed or not) also contributed to internalizing problems. These findings shed light on how the military lifestyle impacts early childhood mental health through the complex interplay between various parts of their environment.     

Community,Context, and Coping: How Social Connections Influence Coping and Well-Being for Military Members and Their Spouses

Military members and their spouses (n = 223 families) were selected from an Active Duty Army installation and assessed with regard to their connections with the military community, their levels of coping with military culture demands, and their reports of individual (depression and life satisfaction) and family well-being. Guided by the contextual model of family stress and the social organization theory of action and change, results from a structural equation model indicated that military community connections, for both military members and their civilian spouses, were related to coping with the military culture and its demands, which in turn was related to both individual and family well-being. Unique actor and partner effects also emerged where both active duty military members' and their civilian spouses' perceptions of military community connections influenced the civilian spouses' satisfaction with military life, but only the active duty military members' community connections influenced their military-specific coping. Additionally, the associations between military-specific coping and individual and family well-being only had actor effects. When examined within the context of important military culture elements, namely rank and extent of military transitions (deployment and relocation), these core findings linking communities to coping and well-being were unchanged. Implications for theory, future research, and practice are shared.     

Family-Centered Care for Military and Veteran Families Affected by Combat Injury

The US military community includes a population of mostly young families that reside in every state and the District of Columbia. Many reside on or near military installations, while other National Guard, Reserve, and Veteran families live in civilian communities and receive care from clinicians with limited experience in the treatment of military families. Though all military families may have vulnerabilities based upon their exposure to deployment-related experiences, those affected by combat injury have unique additional risks that must be understood and effectively managed by military, Veterans Affairs, and civilian practitioners. Combat injury can weaken interpersonal relationships, disrupt day-to-day schedules and activities, undermine the parental and interpersonal functions that support children’s health and well-being, and disconnect families from military resources. Treatment of combat-injured service members must therefore include a family-centered strategy that lessens risk by promoting positive family adaptation to ongoing stressors. This article reviews the nature and epidemiology of combat injury, the known impact of injury and illness on military and civilian families, and effective strategies for maintaining family health while dealing with illness and injury.     

Community Family Therapy with Military Families Experiencing Deployment

The length and frequency of deployments in the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are associated with increased vulnerability for both part- and full-time military families who stand to benefit from systems-oriented practice by marriage and family therapists. Community Family Therapy (CFT) is a modality designed to promote resilience both within and beyond the four walls of the therapy room, facilitate family connections in the community, and empower them for local leadership. The effects of deployment on families are summarized and CFT principles are adapted as a framework for intervention with this population.