Effect of Parents' Wartime Deployment on the Behavior of Young Children in Military Families

Deployment can be a stressful time for children, particularly young children who may not understand what is happening. For this study, parents and childcare providers of children ages 18 months to five years old were surveyed regarding their child’s behavior during a parental deployment. Results showed that children ages three to five who experienced the deployment of a parent had significantly more behavior problems.