Parental Deployments

The objective of this essay is to identify the consequences, both positive and negative, of parental deployment on adolescent children. Textual data derived from the author’s previous focus group study among military adolescents and parents were analyzed and juxtaposed with findings on deployment from the literature. Findings reveal that one of the most prominent sources of stress for families is adjusting and readjusting to new roles and responsibilities. Notably, this stress was primarily felt after the deployed parent returned, as the returning parent was in many ways a completely different “parent” from before. To alleviate this stress, families need to discuss and plan for how all phases of deployment will change “family life” as the children know it. Developing structure and routines may especially help adolescent children cope with deployment as they provide adolescents with a sense of self-efficacy and self-regulation.