Publication year
2017
Citation Title
Victimization and adversity among children experiencing war-related parental absence or deployment in a nationally representative US sample.
Journal Name
Child Abuse & Neglect
Journal Volume
67
Page Numbers
271–279
DOI
10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.02.039
Summary
Interview data were used to compare rates of victimization and adversity among children with war-related parental deployment and those without war-related parental deployment. The associations between victimization and adversity and child trauma symptoms and delinquency were also explored. Results indicate that war-related parental deployments increased children's risk of victimization and adversity, which was associated with children's trauma symptoms and delinquency.
Key Findings
Children with war-related parental deployment were more likely to experience a variety of adverse outcomes (e.g., have a parent go to prison, experience a natural disaster) compared to children without a parental deployment history.
Children with war-related parental deployments were also more likely to be victimized (e.g., maltreatment, peer assault, property crime) within the past year than children without a parental deployment history.
Increased risk of exposure to victimization and adversity fully explained the association between parental deployment history and child trauma symptoms and delinquency.
Implications for Program Leaders
Engage children of deployed Service members in positive youth development programs to reduce the elevated risk for experiencing subsequent adversity or victimization
Provide education to military families about the compound effects of trauma and ways to effectively cope with trauma-related symptoms
Continue to provide support services to spouses of deployed Service members focused on helping families effectively cope with deployment-related stress
Implications for Policy Makers
Continue to support programs and services that work with military families throughout the deployment cycle to help families cope with deployment-related stress
Continue to support programs responsible for identifying and preventing child maltreatment and intimate partner violence to reduce the risk of maltreatment in military families
Support programs and services for military children that teach social and interpersonal skills to reduce the risk of peer victimization
Methods
The National Surveys of Children's Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV) data from 2008, 2011, and 2014 were utilized for this study.
Children aged 10-17 years completed 50-minute phone interviews; proxy interviews with a caregiver were completed for children under the age of 10 years.
Only one child per household was interviewed; participants were randomly chosen from all eligible children in the home by selecting the child with the most recent birthday.
Participants
A total of 13,052 participants were interviewed. Among the sample, 56.8% identified as White, 51.2% were male, and the average age was 8.6 years.
Almost 7% of children (n = 786) reported a lifetime prevalence of war-related parental deployment.
Children who reported war-related parental deployment were, on average, older (M = 9.8 years) than children without similar parental histories (M = 8.5 years).
Limitations
War-related parental deployments were not military specific and could have included civilian contractor deployments or absences; therefore, differences between military and civilian deployments on children's experiences of adversity and victimization could not be assessed in this study.
No data on deployment characteristics, such as length or number of deployments, were available which could have had an influence on children's experiences of adversity and victimization.
The use of proxy interviews with children under the age of 10 years may not accurately capture children's experiences.
Avenues for Future Research
Examine the association between military-related deployment history and childhood exposure to adversity and victimization
Continue to explore how deployment characteristics (e.g., length of time, number of deployments) influence child mental and physical health outcomes
Examine the effectiveness of programs that support military families coping with the unique factors associated with military deployment
Focus
Multiple Branches
Target Population
Military Branch
Military Component
Abstract
This study compares children and youth who have experienced lifetime war-related parental absence or deployment with those having no such history on a variety of victimization types, non-victimization adversity, trauma symptoms, and delinquency; and assesses whether cumulative adversity and victimization help to explain elevated emotional and behavioral problems among children of parents who have experienced war-related absence or deployment. The National Surveys of Children’s Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV) are comprised of three cross-sectional telephone surveys conducted in 2008, 2011, and 2014. Data were collected on the experiences of children aged one month to seventeen years. In each survey, interviews were conducted with youth 10–17 years old and with caregivers of children 0–9 years old. The analyses use pooled data from all three U.S. nationally-representative samples (total sample size of 13,052). Lifetime parental war-related absence or deployment was a marker for elevated childhood exposure to a wide array of victimization and adversity types. Cumulative past year exposure to multiple forms of victimization and adversity fully explained elevated trauma symptoms and delinquency in this population of children. Given the breadth of victimization and adversity risk, children with histories of parental war-related absence or deployment, as well as their families, represent important target groups for broad-based prevention and interventions to reduce exposure and ameliorate consequences when it does occur.
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