A Qualitative Study of the Honeymoon Period Following Military Deployment Among Families with Young Children

More than 2 million children have experienced parental deployment since 2001, yet little is known about the impact of deployment on families with young children. Specifically, the reintegration experiences of families with young children is absent from the extant literature, despite the fact that 41% of military children are under six years old. The current study is a first step in examining the honeymoon, which, when present, is considered the initial period of reintegration. The honeymoon period is inconsistently operationalized across studies, and the term is used in the literature without being defined. The current qualitative investigation sought to operationalize and define the honeymoon period in families with young children.