Publication year
2016
Citation Title
Accumulation of risk and promotive factors among young children in U.S. military families
Journal Name
American Journal of Community Psychology
Journal Volume
57
Issue Number
1-2
Page Numbers
190-202
DOI
10.1002/ajcp.12025
Summary
Children of Service members who have experienced combat-related deployments are at increased risk for a variety of negative outcomes. This study sought to examine risk and promotive factors and the likelihood of negative outcomes in children aged 0 to 10 years. Findings revealed children's outcomes were significantly related to parental depression, community poverty, and cumulative risk.
Key Findings
Parents’ depression and the health among community members were both positively related to anxiety in children ages 3-5 years.
Older children, ages 6-10 years, as opposed to younger children were more likely to experience increase difficulties, which impacted their overall development.
Children living in low-income communities were twice more likely to be at-risk than children who lived in higher income communities or where residents indicated better health.
Implications for Program Leaders
Provide ongoing education for military families regarding family functioning and well-being
Collaborate with community professionals who work with Service members and their families to raise awareness of resources to recognize risk and promotive factors of military children
Establish mentoring groups for children of Service members to pair up with other military children in hopes to build a sense of community and network of support
Implications for Policy Makers
Encourage that further research examine healthy ways for children to learn how to cope better
Recommend monitoring of school-aged children, especially children experiencing a parental deployment as they may be at an increased risk of negative outcomes
Support the development of programming that helps Service members and their families get acquainted with their communities and build healthy family functioning
Methods
A sample of participants were recruited from the Defense Manpower Data Center where military families who had at least one child younger than 11 years were invited to participate.
Of the 1,651 families contacted, 680 (41%) consented to participate in a telephone interview.
To assess the presence of risk and promotive factors among children, child’s developmental problems (ages 0-2 years), levels of anxiety (ages 3-5 years), overall difficulties with emotions and behaviors (ages 6-10 years), and an overall measure of risk status (ages 0-10 years) were examined.
Participants
The sample consisted of 680 families (average of 2 children under the age of 18 years in home) where one or both parents served in the Army (48%), Navy (17%), Air Force (24%), or Marine Corps (11%).
A majority of the participants were female (94%), married (97%), and had at least a high school education (98%).
Parents’ race included 77% White, 9% Black, 5% Asian-American, and 9% other with a mean age of 34 years for females and 38 years for males.
Many of the parents served as officers (42%), were in Active Duty (87%), and experienced two or more deployments (62%).
Limitations
The study used a composite score to measure level of risk among children of all age groups, thus altering the accuracy of the study’s findings.
Data were collected at one time point, thus limiting the ability to determine risk and promotive factors among children across time.
Parents’ mental state may have negatively impacted their overall assessment of their children making it difficult to determine the reliability of the study’s findings.
Avenues for Future Research
Develop and test a measure that accurately assesses the level of risk among children of all ages
Examine the likelihood of children’s negative outcomes as risk factors accrue in both civilian and military families to determine whether there are differences among these two populations
Ask multiple informants, such as children’s teachers, to be a part of the child’s assessment
Focus
Multiple Branches
Target Population
Population Focus
Military Component
Abstract
In the families of the new cohort of war veterans now entering the civilian population in the United States are over two million young children (Cozza, Haskins & Lerner, 2013; Institute of Medicine, 2013). Several noteworthy studies have shown that children exposed to separation from a parent due to combat-related deployment are at elevated risk for a variety of negative consequences (Lester & Flake, 2013). Cozza et al. (2013) argue that existing studies of military children focus too much on the stresses or deficits they experience, failing to give sufficient attention to their strengths, the strengths of their families, or the supports around them. In the current study we focus on risk and promotive factors in the lives of children aged 0_10 in military families. We examine the likelihood of negative outcomes as functions of additive, cumulative, and interactive relationships between risk and promotive factors and children's outcomes. Risk factors, particularly parental depression, community poverty, and cumulative risk, were more strongly associated with children's outcomes than promotive factors. There was, however, a significant risk-protective relationship between accumulations of risk and promotive factors, consistent with promotive conditions operating in a protective fashion under conditions of elevated risk.
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