Redeployments strain military families

The impact of military deployment on children: Placing developmental risk in context

During recent conflicts in the Middle East, U.S. military families have endured multiple separations, relocations, and alterations in family structure/routines, combined with other significant stressors. This review examines what is known about children's mental health and functioning in relation to parental military deployment during conflicts spanning the last 14years. Findings are organized and considered by age group (i.e., toddlers and preschoolers, school age children, and adolescents) in an effort to highlight unique challenges and strengths present at different stages of development. Across all age groups, numerous studies document an increase in the number of military-connected children receiving mental health services in relation to parental deployment, though specific types of problems and long-term outcomes are not well understood. Evidence for a concerning increase in rates of child maltreatment related to parental deployment has also emerged. However, findings are largely based on aggregate data and the specific perpetrator is often unclear. Overall, we emphasize several critical next steps for research in this area including investigations characterized by greater methodological rigor, consideration of broader parental and contextual influences on child mental health, objective indicators of stress and coping, and longitudinal designs to examine persistence of child emotional/behavioral problems. A focus on adaptive/resilient outcomes is equally essential for understanding long-term outcomes and developing effective intervention programs.

Psychological traumas of war: training school counselors as home-front responders

PURPOSE

With nearly 3 million U.S. troops having deployed for Operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, and New Dawn (OEF/OIF/OND) since the conflicts began, an estimated 2 million children have been separated from a parent. This manuscript describes a collaborative project between a state's Veterans Healthcare System, a branch of the American Counseling Association, and a medical university on the OEF/OIF/OND deployment experience.

METHODS

The project sought to educate school counselors about experiences of OEF/OIF/OND families and learn from their observations as home-front responders in public schools during a 2-day summer workshop. This manuscript describes the framework of the workshop, pre/post evaluation results, and implications for counselors, educators, and supervisors.

FINDINGS

School counselors identified childcare and parenting, emotions and behaviors, finances, and barriers to counseling services as challenges for military children and families. Following the workshop, school counselors reported a greater knowledge concerning understanding aspects of outreach for schools and communities in working with veterans and their families. They also reported a better understanding of the impact of war on military families and knowledge of local and state resources for this population. Specifically, attendees felt they could better identify issues and needs of OEF/OIF/OND families with young children, recommend parenting skills to assist these families, and recognize their psychiatric or medical issues.

CONCLUSION

In addressing the mental health disparities of military children experiencing combat-related parental separation, it is important to identify protective environments that could provide prevention interventions for this population. Collaboration between the Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and Department of Education could help support military families and a society facing continued conflicts abroad.

Substance use among military-connected youth: the California Healthy Kids Survey

BACKGROUND

Young people in military-connected families may be exposed to deleterious stressors, related to family member deployment, that have been associated with externalizing behaviors such as substance use. Substance use predisposes youth to myriad health and social problems across the life span.

PURPOSE

This study examined the prevalence and correlates of lifetime and recent substance use in a normative sample of youth who were either connected or not connected to the military.

METHODS

Data are from a subsample of the 2011 California Healthy Kids Survey (N=14,149). Items in the present analyses included present familial military affiliation (no one, parent, sibling); number of deployments (none, one, two or more); gender; grade; and race/ethnicity. Substance use items assessed whether the youth reported lifetime use of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, other drugs, or prescription drugs; and recent (past 30 days) use of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and other drugs.

RESULTS

Multivariate analysis conducted in 2012 revealed that an increase in the number of deployments was associated with a higher likelihood of lifetime and recent use, with the exception of lifetime smoking.

CONCLUSIONS

These results indicate that experiences associated with deployment of a family member may increase the likelihood of substance use.

Adolescent well-being in Washington state military families

OBJECTIVES

We examined associations between parental military service and adolescent well-being.

METHODS

We used cross-sectional data from the 2008 Washington State Healthy Youth Survey collected in public school grades 8, 10, and 12 (n = 10,606). We conducted multivariable logistic regression analyses to test associations between parental military service and adolescent well-being (quality of life, depressed mood, thoughts of suicide).

RESULTS

In 8th grade, parental deployment was associated with higher odds of reporting thoughts of suicide among adolescent girls (odds ratio [OR] = 1.66; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.19, 2.32) and higher odds of low quality of life (OR = 2.10; 95% CI = 1.43, 3.10) and thoughts of suicide (OR = 1.75; 95% CI = 1.15, 2.67) among adolescent boys. In 10th and 12th grades, parental deployment was associated with higher odds of reporting low quality of life (OR = 2.74; 95% CI = 1.79, 4.20), depressed mood (OR = 1.50; 95% CI = 1.02, 2.20), and thoughts of suicide (OR = 1.64; 95% CI = 1.13, 2.38) among adolescent boys.

CONCLUSIONS

Parental military deployment is associated with increased odds of impaired well-being among adolescents, especially adolescent boys. Military, school-based, and public health professionals have a unique opportunity to develop school- and community-based interventions to improve the well-being of adolescents in military families.