The United States military force includes over 2.2 million volunteer service members. Three out of five service members who are deployed or are preparing for deployment have spouses and/or children.
The deployment of U.S. military personnel to global hot spots, whether as combatants or as peacekeepers, has increased attention to the psychological well-being of military personnel and their family members.
Preliminary results of our survey of 1066 adolescent members of a Canadian Forces (CF) community, comparing the mental health and well-being of CF and civilian youth in a secondary school adjacent to an army base, yielded surprising results.
As a consequence of various causes, numerous children are confronted with parental separation. By following families in the course of military deployments, this study aimed at enhancing knowledge on temporary father—child separation.
Recent studies have highlighted the impact of deployment on military families and children and the corresponding need for interventions to support them.
The article lists various nonprofit organizations which aid individuals and families show their support to military soldiers in the U.S. for the celebration of the National Military Appreciation Month on May 2011.
Paternal seperation due to the non-accompanied tour presents significant problems for the military family. It is not unusual for the military pediatrician to see children with various somatic complaints or disciplinary problems, which started abruptly with the departure of the father.
More than 125 years have passed since William T. Sherman first observed that “war is hell”; since that time, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the effect of war on the young children of soldiers.
The effects of father absence for varying lengths of time and varying growth periods are compared with the effects of father presence, as reflected in college entrance scores on the American College Entrance exam. Comparisons are made for only children in the 2 and 3-child families.