Changes in parenting and youth adjustment across the military deployment cycle
Research Report:
Research SummaryAPA Citation:
Flittner O’Grady, A. E., Whiteman, S. D., Cardin, J. F., & MacDermid Wadsworth, S. M. (2018). Changes in parenting and youth adjustment across the military deployment cycle. Journal of Marriage and Family, 80(2), 569-581. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12457
Abstract Created by REACH:
This study examined how deployment of a National Guard service member parent related to changes in at-home partners parental responsiveness (e.g. comforting and supporting their child), at-home parent’s depressive symptoms, and child adjustment (externalizing and internalizing behaviors) over the course of the deployment cycle, and how these components related to one another. One hundred and fourteen families were interviewed at four time points (pre-deployment, three months in to deployment, eight months in to deployment, and reunion). A life course perspective was used to evaluate the multiple transitions of deployment, and to examine parent and child behavioral changes. Overall, parental depressive symptoms and child maladjustment increased throughout the deployment cycle until reunion, at which point these returned to pre-deployment levels.
Focus:
Children
Parents
Branch of Service:
Air Force
Army
Multiple branches
Military Affiliation:
Guard
Subject Affiliation:
Child of a service member or veteran
Guard/Reserve member
Military families
Spouse of service member or veteran
Population:
Childhood (birth - 12 yrs)
Preschool age (2 -5 yrs)
School age (6 - 12 yrs)
Adolescence (13 - 17 yrs)
Adulthood (18 yrs & older)
Young adulthood (18 - 29 yrs)
Thirties (30 - 39 yrs)
Middle age (40 - 64 yrs)
Methodology:
Longitudinal study
Authors:
Flittner O'Grady, Allison, Whiteman, Shawn D., Cardin, Jean-François, Wadsworth, Shelley M. MacDermid
Abstract:
This study examined how changes in at-home parents’ mental health and parenting practices related to changes in their children’s adjustment throughout the course of a service members’ military deployment. Participants included at-home parents from 114 National Guard families who were interviewed at four different occasions across the deployment cycle. The results revealed changes across the deployment cycle among the following three indicators: parental warmth, depressive symptoms, and children’s externalizing behaviors. Changes in parental warmth were associated with changes in children’s adjustment. Overall, these findings indicate that during parental separation, at-home parents’ responses to children have important implications for children’s adjustment.
Publisher/Sponsoring Organization:
Wiley-Blackwell
Publication Type:
Article
REACH Publication
Author Affiliation:
Fox Valley Technical College, AEFO
Utah State University, SDW
Health and Social Services University Institute of Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, JFC
Purdue University, SMMW
Keywords:
military families, children of military personnel, child development, parenting, parent & child, child rearing, development or outcomes, family process, multilevel models, parenting education, psychology of parents
REACH Publication Type:
Research Summary
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