Publication year
2010
Citation Title
School transitions among military adolescents: A qualitative study of stress and coping.
Journal Name
School Psychology Review
Journal Volume
39
Issue Number
1
Page Numbers
84
Summary
Qualitative data from students, parents, and school staff were used to examine transition-related stressors experienced by mobile military students (i.e., those who experience multiple military-related moves), the efforts utilized to help these students cope with stress, and to identify strategies that schools can use to ease the transition process for mobile military students. A variety of stressors were experienced by mobile military students (e.g., adapting to a new school) but military youth were adaptable to school transitions, and making connections or getting involved in the new school helped students cope with this transition.
Key Findings
Stressors included tension at home, peer relationships issues, adapting to a new school environment, academic challenges, connecting with teachers, and missing out on extracurricular activities
Students were able to cope with transition stressors by making connections with teachers, being adaptable, joining extracurricular activities, and connecting with other military youth and families.
Increased communication between schools and military families, teacher training regarding military families, and establishing policies that support military youth were seen as ways to ease student’s transitions.
Implications for Program Leaders
Offer support groups and activities to military youth to help them make connections and build new support systems after a move
Increase the visibility of resources for military students and their families may improve coping and help ease transitions
Provide education to military parents regarding common stressors youth feel when transitioning into a new school and ways parents can support their children during this transition
Implications for Policy Makers
Provide support to the Military Child Education Coalition or other efforts aimed at developing standardized graduation requirements for military students
Encourage collaboration among DoD programs and schools serving military youth to support students transition between schools following a parents change in duty station
Recommend education for school counselors regarding working with military families, including the policies and requirements related to transitioning to a new school
Methods
Focus groups were conducted with adolescents (4 focus groups), parents (3 focus groups) and teachers (4 focus groups) from eight different military bases.
This article focuses on adolescents with parents in the Air Force, Army, Marines, Navy, Reserves, and National Guard.
Participants were recruited by a staff member at their military base.
Participants
Thirty-nine adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18 years (M = 14.6 years), 24 parents (M = 41.9 years), and 35 school staff members (M = 49.8 years) participated.
Adolescents reported an average of 5.72 military-related moves.
The majority of adolescent participants were female (61%), White (56%); parents were mostly female (71%) and White (67%).
Limitations
Participating youth and adults may differ from non-participants in a way that is not measured, but affected the outcome variables. For instance, individuals who decided to participate may have been functioning better than individuals who did not participate.
Parents, students, and staff may be trying to respond in the “best” way, which could limit the reliability of results.
Service branch information was not provided and could limit the generalizability of the results.
Avenues for Future Research
Explore effective school-based intervention and prevention approaches to help military students and their families cope with the stress of deployment and military-related moves
Examine transition stressors and ways of coping with a more diverse sample of military youth (e.g., race/ethnicity, special needs, gender)
Investigate how number of school transitions with military youth impact educational achievement and college entrance rates
Focus
Multiple Branches
Target Population
Population Focus
Military Component
Abstract
The research on highly mobile military adolescents has produced mixed findings. Whereas early descriptive studies reported that adolescents experiencing multiple residential moves exhibited symptoms of what was termed military family syndrome, more recent quantitative studies have found few negative effects after controlling for prior status. However, most of the extant research has been conducted during peacetime, and thus may not generalize to today's mobile military students, whose parents are facing deployment at increasing rates. The current study used qualitative methods to (a) describe the transition-related stressors experienced by mobile military students; (b) describe the efforts employed to help these students cope with their stress; and (c) identify strategies that schools can use to ease the transition process for mobile military students, as reported through 11 focus groups conducted with military students, their parents, and school staff. The findings suggest that the move-related stressors experienced by mobile military students affected their adjustment to the new school environment. Recommendations for supporting mobile military students are provided.
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