Impact of Deployment on Military Families

Abstract

To date, approximately 300,000 families including 700,000 children have been affected by the increased and repeated number of deployments in support of the Global War on Terror in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. The purpose of this review is to discuss the impact of these deployments on family members of active duty and reserve/guard personnel. A search of literature across the years of military conflicts reveals waves of studies emerging after World War II, the Vietnam conflict, Desert Storm/Shield, and now the most recent wars. Study designs most frequently include qualitative exploratory, survey methods, and program evaluations. The field is limited by small scale projects, service- and facility-specific samples, and knowledge extracted from related topics. More research is needed to achieve a more comprehensive understanding across the trajectory of the deployment experience for both service personnel and family members as well as long-term outcomes.

Parental Deployment, Adolescent Academic and Social–Behavioral Maladjustment, and Parental Psychological Well-being in Military Families

“…Our finding that parents in families that experienced long deployments were more likely to be depressed, regardless of whether the responding parent was civilian or military, is consistent with other studies indicating that psychological challenges for both parents may be exacerbated by the increased length and frequency of deployments. 1,7 However, although this finding was true for fathers serving in the military, it was not true for mothers serving in the military. These findings and those for adolescent boys and girls add to the growing body of literature suggesting that long deployments may be harder psychologically for military fathers and adolescent boys than for military mothers and adolescent girls.…”

“…Public Health Reports 132 (1) problem behavior at home, fear/anxiety, and anger about parent's military requirements). The 5 response options were as follows: increased a lot, increased a little, no change, decreased a little, and decreased a lot.…”

“…Increases in the frequency and length of military deployments in the past decade have magnified concerns that the effects of deployment might extend beyond military personnel to their spouses and children. 1 –3 Nearly 2 million children are in military families, and many of them have experienced at least 1 parental deployment. The US Army accounts for most deployments.…”

Consecuencias de los conflictos armados en la salud mental de niños y adolescentes: revisión de revisiones de la literatura

“…Las niñas, niños y jóvenes con algún tipo de discapacidad tienen un mayor riesgo de ser víctimas de algún tipo de violencia durante su infancia, años escolares o adolescencia. 32 Determinar la prevalencia de trastornos mentales en niños afectados por la guerra La infancia es un período crítico del desarrollo cognitivo, emocional y físico. Es necesaria la creación de programas para la primera infancia que garanticen el bienestar emocional, psicológico y físico de los niños en situaciones de guerra.…”

“…La persistencia de los efectos negativos se observa asimismo en un estudio en África en el cual se evidenció que, una vez cesaron los conflictos, los excombatientes, especialmente adolescentes, eran más proclives a experiencias extremas de hostilidad y ansiedad, y mostraban un deterioro progresivo de la resiliencia (58). del dinero y adopción de decisiones (26,32,56,75,81). Dichas actividades se asociaron con particularidades del desarrollo de la moralidad en niños de 6 a 11 años, específicamente con la posibilidad de tomar decisiones que justifiquen o no el conflicto armado (9,21,74).…”