Publication year
2016
Citation Title
Preparing for deployment: Examining family-and individual-level factors
Journal Name
Military Psychology
Journal Volume
28
Issue Number
3
Page Numbers
134-146
DOI
10.1037/mil0000110
Summary
The relationship between individual- and family-level characteristics and engagement in predeployment preparation activities was examined. Military families indicated higher engagement in financial and legal deployment preparation, particularly among Active Duty personnel. More professional support was sought when families were experiencing emotional or relational problems prior to a deployment.
Key Findings
Engaging in deployment preparation was most common among Active Duty families who were older in age, of officer status, and reported higher marital satisfaction.
Talking with a professional about how the deployment may affect their marriage was greater in couples with higher depressive symptoms and lower relationship satisfaction.
Families who had children with emotional problems were more likely to seek professional support prior to a deployment.
Implications for Program Leaders
Evaluate the effectiveness and availability of current programs that focus on pre-deployment preparation for military families
Provide additional support and resources for families who are experiencing problems, such as depressive symptoms, child emotional problems, and marital dissatisfaction
Implement beneficial strategies that can be shared among Service members and their families, especially with those who have never experienced a deployment
Implications for Policy Makers
Continue to help military families to receive necessary mental health interventions throughout the deployment cycle
Develop initiatives to disperse educational materials to military families who may lack access or awareness of additional support services for all family needs
Encourage programs to continue to reach younger, enlisted families and those from the Reserve component to assist them in preparing effectively for a deployment
Methods
Families were recruited randomly via mail inviting them to participate in the Deployment Life Study.
Participants completed a questionnaire that included measures of pre-deployment planning, depression, marital satisfaction, children’s behavior, and quality of family environment.
Statistical analyses were used to test the relationship between characteristics and engagement in pre-deployment preparation activities.
Participants
Active Duty (86%), Reserve/Guard personnel and their spouses completed the survey (N = 1,524; 19% officers).
Of the entire sample, 851 were military parents of at least one child age 3 or older (mean child age = 8.9, SD = 3.93); Average age of spouse was 32 years (SD = 7.23).
Sample consisted of multiple branches (34% Army, 16% Air Force, 17% Marines, & 32% Navy); 88% had a deployment history.
Limitations
The data in this study were cross-sectional, which limits the ability to infer causal relationships among individual- and family-level characteristics and engagement in pre-deployment preparation activities.
The research does not account for the impact of engagement in preparation activities and whether they buffer or mitigate post-deployment adjustment across time.
There is a lack of information in determining why the families sought participation in pre-deployment activities, especially engagement in financial and legal deployment preparation.
Avenues for Future Research
Examine characteristics outside of the ones examined in this article that may limit engagement in pre-deployment preparation activities
Utilize the longitudinal data from the original study to examine if there is a relationship between engagement in preparation activities and post-deployment adjustment across time
Examine if there are differences among families who have a deployment history versus those who have not
Focus
Multiple Branches
Target Population
Population Focus
Military Component
Abstract
Deployment can be a significant source of stress for military families. Understanding how families prepare in the face of such stress, and which families are more versus less likely to prepare, is a priority of the Department of Defense. However, there has been scant research on how families prepare for deployments and the factors associated with engagement in preparation activities. The current study is a cross-sectional examination of the proportion of households engaging in deployment preparation activities and family-level and individual-level factors that are associated with these activities in a large and representative sample of married, deployable service members and their families from all military services and components (N = 1,621). Overall, results showed that families reported high rates of engaging in preparation activities, with particularly strong engagement in financial and legal preparation tasks. Talking about deployment to prepare a spouse or child was also relatively highly endorsed but not as frequently cited compared to other logistical preparation activities. Older spouses, officers, active component families, and those with higher marital satisfaction reported greater participation in preparation activities. Families with greater socioemotional difficulties, as indexed by child emotional problems or greater depressive symptoms in the service member or spouse, as well as those with lower spouse-reported marital satisfaction, were more likely to seek professional help. Evaluating the effectiveness of programs in reaching the families that may be least likely to prepare, as well as examining the longitudinal association between deployment preparation and postdeployment family adjustment, is an important area for further inquiry.
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