Changes in Parenting and Youth Adjustment Across the Military Deployment Cycle

O'Grady, Allison E. Flittner; Whiteman, Shawn D.; Cardin, Jean‐François; Wadsworth, Shelley MacDermid

doi:10.1111/jomf.12457

Cited by 17 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…This process is collectively known as the deployment cycle (Pincus, House, Christensen, & Adler, ), which consists of predeployment (notification of an upcoming deployment), deployment (departure and first month away), sustainment (extended period of time away), redeployment (notification and preparation to return to home garrison), and postdeployment (return and adjustment to home garrison). The entire family system is affected throughout this cycle as family roles change and the family psychologically adjusts to the transition from one stage of the deployment cycle to another (Flittner O'Grady, Whiteman, Cardin, & MacDermid Wadsworth, ; Huebner, ). During periods of separation, fear and uncertainty are common familial experiences, in large part due to the mortal danger inherent to many military deployments (Wiens & Boss, ).…”

Section: Military Culture Contexts and Demandsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward a Framework for Military Family Life Education: Culture, Context, Content, and Practice

Mancini¹,

O’Neal²,

Lucier‐Greer

2020

Family Relations

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Grounded in multiple ways of thinking about families, we propose a beginning framework for developing and implementing military family life education. We first situate this work within the context of established family life education frameworks. Then, we discuss features of military culture, including its contexts and demands on families, to highlight the realities of life as a military family and underscore available strengths that family life educators may build upon. This is followed by a discussion of family science theories emphasizing components that can inform and ground military family life education. Next, we draw on lessons from recent comprehensive reviews of programs, including their merits and demerits. Finally, we cite example programs, including those embedded in military family support systems themselves, and resources that are available to family life educators. Ultimately, we propose a set of ideas that inform a framework for developing and implementing military family life education aligned with the realities of family life as well as the vulnerabilities and the resilience of military families.Military members and their families comprise one of the largest workforces in the United States, with approximately 1.3 million

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Section: Military Culture Contexts and Demandsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward a Framework for Military Family Life Education: Culture, Context, Content, and Practice

Mancini¹,

O’Neal²,

Lucier‐Greer

2020

Family Relations

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“…Consistent with spillover processes, perhaps the negative implications of deployments for at-home parents (Flake et al, 2009;Flittner O'Grady et al, 2018;Riggs & Riggs, 2011), including increased stress and role overload, permeate into their relationships with their offspring increasing parentchild conflict and differential treatment of offspring, factors positively related to sibling disharmony (Brody & Stoneman, 1994;Kim et al, 2006;Shanahan, McHale, Crouter, & Osgood, 2008). It is also possible that the absence of the deployed parent is directly related to changes in youth's sibling relationship qualities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An emerging body of work documents that, at least in the short term, parental wartime military deployments are associated with elevations in children and youth’s externalizing behaviors (e.g., Card et al, 2011; Chandra, Martin, Hawkins, & Richardson, 2010; Lester et al, 2010) and internalizing symptoms (Cederbaum et al, 2014; Reed, Bell, & Edwards, 2011) as well as impairments in academic performance and peer‐related difficulties (Chandra et al, 2010; Lester et al, 2010). Although the separation from a deployed parent may have direct effects on children’s well‐being and adjustment (e.g., Huebner, Mancini, Wilcox, Grass, & Grass, 2007), research has largely considered how deployment is related to children’s adjustment through the nondeployed parent’s mental health and parenting (e.g., Flake, Davis, Johnson, & Middleton, 2009; Flittner O’Grady, Whiteman, Cardin, & MacDermid Wadsworth, 2018; Riggs & Riggs, 2011). In brief, this work suggests that the deployment of a residential parent negatively affects the nondeployed parent’s mental health (e.g., higher anxiety, higher stress, role overload) and parenting practices (e.g., less sensitivity, more parent–child conflict), which, in turn, negatively influences children’s adjustment.…”

Section: Nature Of Sibling Relationships Over the Course Of A Parent’mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The deployment phase of the cycle, in which military members are away from their families and are engaged in their theaters, is a stressful time in which at‐home family members must adjust to the separation from a spouse or parent, cope with their own feelings, and navigate changing roles and demands (DeVoe & Ross, 2012; Paley, Lester, & Mogil, 2013). This phase of the deployment cycle has been the attention of most research on military families, generally noting challenges to at‐home parents’ parenting and mental health (e.g., Flake et al, 2009; Flittner O’Grady et al, 2018; Lester et al, 2010) as well as increased emotional and behavioral difficulties among youth while the service member is away (e.g., Card et al, 2011; Cederbaum et al, 2014; Lester et al, 2010). Finally, the deployment cycle ends with reunion and reintegration, when military members return from their tour, prepare and reintegrate into their normal life.…”

Section: Nature Of Sibling Relationships Over the Course Of A Parent’mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We also investigated whether changes in sibling relationships following a parent’s deployment served as either risk (if spillover hypotheses are correct) or protective (if compensation hypotheses are correct) factors for youth’s adjustment. In order to isolate the potential influence of sibling relationships, we controlled for changes associated with at‐home (military unaffiliated) parents’ mental health and parenting, given established associations between deployment and these factors (e.g., Flake et al, 2009; Flittner O’Grady et al, 2018; Riggs & Riggs, 2011).…”

Section: Nature Of Sibling Relationships Over the Course Of A Parent’mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Youth’s Sibling Relationships Across the Course of a Parent’s Military Deployment: Trajectories and Implications

et al. 2020

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The present exploratory study explored the trajectories and implications of at-home (military unaffiliated) parents' perceptions of youth's sibling relationships across the course of a parent's military deployment. Participants included 109 families with at least two siblings (older sibling and younger siblings age: M = 10.85, SD = 3.92 and M = 7.89, SD = 3.58, respectively) and one parent serving in the National Guard. Data were collected via in-home interviews, at six time points across the deployment cycle. A series of multilevel models revealed increases in sibling disharmony during the months a deployed parent was away, but showed signs of recovery in the year after they returned. Increases in sibling disharmony were positively associated with increases in youth's externalizing behaviors above and beyond the effects of parenting.

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

Tupper

Bureau

Deneault

et al. 2020

Infant Mental Health Journal

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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. K E Y W O R D S attachment, behavior problems, deployment, military, parenting stress 1 PREDICTION OF CHILD BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS Global conflicts such as the recent one in Afghanistan have contributed to an increase in the military deployment of Canadian Armed Forces personnel during the past few decades. Given the challenges that a long-term separation from a parent brings forward, scholars have been preoccupied with the potential detrimental effects of military deployment on children. Notably, they found that parental deployment may be a threat to early childhood mental health, notably by increasing the prevalence of internalizing and externalizing problems (Moeller, Culler, Hamilton, Aronson, & Perkins, 2015). However, past research neglected to consider whether deployment in itself predicts behavioral problems, or if other changes related to deployment (e.g., changes experienced by the at-home parent; Flittner O'Grady, Whiteman, Cardin, & MacDermid Wadsworth, 2018) may explain the higher prevalence of behavioral problems among children with a deployed parent. In the current study, we sought to address

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Changes in Parenting and Youth Adjustment Across the Military Deployment Cycle

Cited by 17 publications

References 34 publications

Toward a Framework for Military Family Life Education: Culture, Context, Content, and Practice

Toward a Framework for Military Family Life Education: Culture, Context, Content, and Practice

Youth’s Sibling Relationships Across the Course of a Parent’s Military Deployment: Trajectories and Implications

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

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