Publication year
2014
Citation Title
Parenting practices and emotion regulation in National Guard and Reserve families: Early findings from the After Deployment Adaptive Parenting Tools/ADAPT Study.
Page Numbers
111-131
DOI
10.1007/978-1-4614-8712-8_7
Summary
Exposure of one parent to combat, reintegration, and further deployment is hypothesized to impair parenting by influencing parents' emotion regulation capacities. Baseline data were collected from National Guard/Reserve and civilian parents and families participating in the After Deployment: Adaptive Parenting Tool (ADAPT) program. Results indicate that deployed parents reported more difficulty with emotional regulation and parenting than civilian parents, particularly deployed mothers.
Key Findings
Deployed mothers had the most difficulties in emotion regulation and parenting.
Civilian mothers demonstrated the fewest difficulties in emotion regulation and parenting.
Deployment status was marginally associated with difficulties in emotion regulation and parenting challenges.
Emotion regulation was a strong mediator of the link between deployment status and parenting.
Implications for Program Leaders
Develop cost-effective, high quality short-term child care options for military families with a deployed family member
Offer pre- and post-deployment support groups for deployed mothers and their families
Provide workshops for deployed mothers that focus on emotion regulation and parenting
Implications for Policy Makers
Continue support for programs that address the unique challenges faced by deployed mothers
Continue to take into consideration parenting needs that can promote resilience in Service members, their partners, and children
Recommend education of professionals (e.g. child caregivers, mental health, education professionals) on the possible effects of parents' emotion regulation and parenting during deployment and post-deployment
Methods
Participants were recruited during National Guard family event or via social media or media articles (TV, newspaper) about the study.
Eligibility criteria included having a child between age 5-12 years, one parent who had deployed to current conflicts since 2001, and access to high-speed internet. In addition, parents had to be willing and able, if invited, to attend a weekly parenting group in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis-St Paul) metro area.
Parents completed online self-report measures related to emotion regulation and parenting behaviors. Baseline data were analyzed for the current study.
Participants
The sample consisted of 89 Reserve and civilian parents; 44% (n = 39) of participants were deployed men, 2% (n = 2) were civilian men, 15% (n = 13) were deployed women, and 39% (n = 35) were civilian women.
Most participants (64%) were in the Army National Guard, 8% in the Army Reserves, 6% in the Navy Reserves, and 21% in the Air National Guard.
The majority of participants were female (60%) and White (93%). Age was not provided.
Limitations
The sample was limited to National Guard/ Reserve families with school-age children; therefore, not representative of the entire military population.
The small sample size of male civilians precluded the analysis of sample subgroups by gender and deployment status.
The sample was limited to National Guard/ Reserve families from one state (Minnesota) and may not be applicable to National Guard/ Reserve families in other states.
Avenues for Future Research
Utilize a larger sample to explore the pathways (direct and indirect) by which each parent, and child, is affected by deployment within a family
Explore different aspects of the deployed mother within military families
Examine the association over time among parenting, emotion regulation, and deployment among both mothers and fathers
Focus
Multiple Branches
Target Population
Population Focus
Military Component
Abstract
While a caregiver's military status per se is not a risk factor for children's adjustment, deployment is a significant family stressor, which places children at risk for behavior and emotional problems. We hypothesize that deployment (i.e. separation from spouse and children), exposure to combat, reintegration, and further deployment) may impair parenting by influencing parents' emotion regulation capacities. We report baseline data from the After Deployment: Adaptive Parenting Tools study, an NIH-funded effectiveness study of a parenting program for Reserve component families. Data were gathered from N = 89 military and civilian parents in families where a parent had deployed to the current conflicts. Parents completed self-report measures of emotion regulation, and parenting. On average, deployed individuals (N = 52) reported more difficulties in emotion regulation than civilian parents. Across gender, mothers reported more difficulties than fathers with deployed mothers reporting the most difficulties. Emotion regulation explained a significant proportion of the variance in parenting practices, and associations of deployment to parenting and emotion regulation approached significance in a regression analysis. Results are discussed in the context of the challenges facing deployed parents (particularly mothers) and the potential for programs targeting parenting in military families experiencing deployment.
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