Publication year
2016
Citation Title
The significance of military contexts and culture for understanding family well-being: Parent life satisfaction and adolescent outcomes.
Journal Name
Journal of Child and Family Studies
Journal Volume
25
Issue Number
10
Page Numbers
3022-3033
DOI
10.1007/s10826-016-0471-0
Summary
Military culture and support may influence military families well-being. By having 236 military families with at least one adolescent complete surveys about formal and informal support they received from the military, researchers examined the relationships among perceived support, life satisfaction, and adolescent outcomes. Results highlighted the importance of military support on military family well-being.
Key Findings
Soldiers’ perceived level of military support was positively associated with their overall life satisfaction.
Military spouses’ own life satisfaction was only marginally associated with their perceived level of military family support, but it was highly associated with their satisfaction with military life and the Service members’ life satisfaction.
Parental (especially the civilian parents’) life satisfaction was positively related to adolescents’ well-being.
Implications for Program Leaders
Distribute informational booklets about formal and informal support that is available for military families
Offer workshops that aim to increase military spouses’ satisfaction with military life
Identify families that are experiencing lower levels of life satisfaction and offer them targeted formal and informal support
Implications for Policy Makers
Continue to provide formal systems of support (e.g., classes and programs that address the needs of military families) through organizations, agencies, and unit leaders
Encourage the development of programs that promote informal support and social networking within the military community
Recommend training for professionals who work with military families focusing on considering the role of military spouses’ military life satisfaction in military family well-being
Methods
Participants were recruited through signs and fliers at the youth centers and military community stores.
Family members completed surveys in separate rooms concurrently, and the measures included support from unit leaders and fellow Soldiers, military spouses’ satisfaction with military life, overall life satisfaction of all family members, and internalizing symptoms (e.g., depression) and self-efficacy (i.e., confidence of one’s abilities) of adolescents.
Data were analyzed to examine the relationships among perceived military support, life satisfaction, and adolescent outcomes.
Participants
Participants were 236 families, and each family included one Active Duty Soldier, one military spouse, and at least one adolescent between 11 and 18 years old.
Most Soldiers and military spouses were between 31 and 40 years old (68%), and most of the Soldiers were male (86%); the majority of the adolescents were between 11 and 14 years old, and 49% of them were male.
The race/ethnicity of the participants were not indicated in the article.
Limitations
Data (e.g., adolescents’ academic performance) were self-reported, therefore they may not accurately reflect participants’ real situation and may be biased by participants’ own perspectives.
Only heterosexual couples with one Soldier and one military spouse were included in the study, so the results may be difficult to generalize to other family structures (e.g., homosexual, single parent).
The cross-sectional design of the study did not allow examining the causal relationships among study variables.
Avenues for Future Research
Collect both subjective and objective data so that the results are more comprehensive
Include a variety of family structures to increase the generalizability of the study
Investigate the causal relationships among military family support, life satisfaction, and adolescent outcomes by conducting a longitudinal study
Focus
Army
Target Population
Population Focus
Military Branch
Military Component
Abstract
Formal systems and informal networks are presumed to be significant contexts that affect military families. Their effects on both parents and adolescents in active duty military families are examined (N = 236 families). Social organization and contextual model of family stress theories are employed as frameworks for the analyses of how dimensions of military culture influence parents’ life satisfaction, as well as key developmental outcomes of their adolescents (for example, mental health). Key findings from our analyses included a positive relationship between parents support from military leaders and fellow soldiers and parental well-being findings revealed the importance of civilian parents’ satisfaction with military life on adolescent outcomes for families that have experienced stressful military contexts. These findings provide support for the significance of multiple contexts for understanding resilience among military members and their families.
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