Combat-Related Parental Deployment: Identifying the Impact on Families With Preschool-age Children

There are few helpful resources and research studies on how military families with preschool-age children may be affected by deployment. Focus groups with military families that had at least one preschool-age child examined the emotions and reactions of family members to deployment. Different concerns arise for different family members and different phases of deployment, and caregiver distress may contribute to children’s emotional and behavioral difficulties.