There are few helpful resources and research studies on how military families with preschool-age children may be affected by deployment. Focus groups with military families that had at least one preschool-age child examined the emotions and reactions of family members to deployment.
Combat-related injuries can have a significant impact, not only on Service members, but also on their families and children. The relationships between family pre-deployment distress, child post-injury distress, Service member injury severity, and family post-injury disruption were examined.
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can cause relationship difficulties, particularly when symptoms are not well understood.
National Guard members are often faced with the difficult task of finding a new job following deployment. Service memebrs who were employed or unemployed at 45-60 days after demobilization were compared on several variables (e.g., demographics, deployments, mental and physical health).
Belonging to a community is often an important part of an individual or family’s well-being and a key source of social support. Relationships between Active Duty Air Force members’ perceptions of community variables (e.g., participation, connection) were examined.
Parenting behaviors and relationships can have a strong impact on children's well-being. Relationships between four and five year old’s behavior, representations of their mothers (i.e., negative, positive, disciplinary), and mother’s psychological health were examined.
The well being of children and caregivers during a parent’s deployment was examined through interviews with the at-home parent (i.e., caregiver) and the child.
National Guard youth at a summer camp participated in an individual interview regarding their behavior during parental deployment. Participants described a range of responses, including assuming additional household tasks to maintaining typical routines.
Children of deployed Service members may experience a variety of difficulties, including emotional and behavioral concerns.
Children of deployed Service members may face many difficulties and concerns, but little research addresses child deployment perspectives. Children of newly-deployed National Guard Soldiers were interviewed about their perspectives on deployment and frequencies of responses were calculated.