Military REACH Review | January 2024 Newsletter
In 2016, Service members' maternity leave increased from 6 to 12 weeks. Researchers recently compared the rates of postpartum depression diagnoses of active-duty women who received 6 weeks of leave (gave birth in 2011-2015) and those who received 12 weeks of leave (gave birth between 2016-2019).
T/F: Servicewomen who received 12 weeks of maternity leave were less likely to be diagnosed with postpartum depression than those who received 6 weeks.
- Military-connected children with special health care needs and their families: A literature review (Hill & Blue-Banning, 2023)
- Gender role reversal: Civilian husbands of U.S. military servicewomen as tied-migrant worker (Dowling et al., 2023)
- Mental health, alcohol use, and associations with pre-deployment family functioning in active-duty service members (Jia-Richards et al., 2023)
- Incidence of postpartum depression decreases after initial expansion of military maternity leave (Herrick & Chai, 2023)
- Challenges and opportunities to maximize mental health among shipboard sailors: A qualitative study (Schmied et al., 2023)
- Fathers’ marital conflict and children’s socioemotional skills: A moderated-mediation model of conflict resolution and parenting (Gong et al., 2023)
- Post-traumatic stress symptoms and parenting in military families: A systematic integrative review (Gupta et al., 2023)
- Examining food parenting practices in military families (Roys & Balantekin, 2023)
- Exploring the lived experiences of pain in military families: A qualitative examination (Noyek et al., 2023)
- Trauma-informed parenting intervention for veterans: A preliminary uncontrolled trial of Strength at Home–Parents (Creech et al., 2023)
- Veteran caretaker perspectives of the need for childcare assistance during health care appointments (Shepherd-Banigan et al., 2023)
- Love is not all you need: Understanding the association between relationship status and relationship dysfunction with self-directed violence in veterans (Weber et al., 2023)
Promoting adolescent well-being: Drawing from basic and applied developmental frameworks and research (Military REACH, 2024)
The Military REACH team was asked to develop a literature review of recent research on best practices for supporting adolescent well-being. This report provides both background information and current trends in adolescent well-being.
A Hidden Crisis: Women’s Postpartum Mental Health
By: Haley Sherman and Sheila Sjolseth , Graduate Research Assistants, Military REACH
In the first year after the birth of a child, “suicide is one of the top five leading causes of maternal death in the United States, accounting for approximately 20% of all maternal deaths” (Pratt et al., 2023). Although the reality of women's postpartum mental health is alarming, it is time to start bringing these concerns to light. So, we invite you to join us in our call to action of spreading awareness. Continue reading to learn how.