Early Childhood (under 5 years)

Increases in combat deployments have been associated with rises in rates of child neglect in U.S. military families.

It is important to understand the associations between deployment and child neglect types in military families. This study examined 390 substantiated child neglect cases in four Army installations; the neglect type and the deployment status at the time of each neglect incident was investigated.

Military fathers of young children often endure repeated separations from their children, and these may disrupt the early parent–child relationship.

National Guard or Reserve Service member fathers who had been separated from their children due to deployment participated in individual interviews about their beliefs and attributions regarding their young children.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the prevalence of maternal and paternal spanking of children at 3 and 5 years of age and the associations between spanking and children’s externalizing behavior and receptive vocabulary through age 9.

A nationally representative sample of families was studied to examine the prevalence of maternal and paternal spanking of children at age three and age five. Associations between spanking and children’s externalizing behavior and receptive vocabulary at age nine were also examined.