Parental wartime deployment and socioemotional adjustment in early childhood: The critical role of military parents’ perceived threat during deployment

  • Hajal, N. J., Aralis, H. J., Kiff, C. J., Wasserman, M. M., Paley, B., Milburn, N. G., ... & Lester, P. (2020). Parental wartime deployment and socioemotional adjustment in early childhood: The critical role of military parents’ perceived threat during deployment. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 33(3), 307-317. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.22475
  • Wartime deployment is often stressful for members of military families, in part, because Service members are in proximity to danger. This exposure to stress may negatively influence emotion socialization (i.e., the process of parents or other adults helping children learn to manage their emotions, such as being sensitive or setting a good example). Data from military families (N = 104) with children ages 3–6 were examined to understand whether Service member fathers’ deployment experiences (e.g., combat experiences, perceived threat) were linked to mother-reported child adjustment (behavioral, social, emotional), beyond what could be attributed to fathers’ mental health (i.e., posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety). Further, emotion socialization was examined as a linking mechanism connecting fathers’ combat experiences to their children’s adjustment. The results suggest that fathers’ perceptions of threat during deployment, not their combat experiences, were important for parenting patterns as well as child adjustment.

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Research summaries convey terminology used by the scientists who authored the original research article; some terminology may not align with the federal government's mandated language for certain constructs.

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