Identifying Military and Combat-Specific Risk Factors for Child Adjustment: Comparing High and Low Risk Military Families and Civilian Families
Abstract
Parental deployment can disrupt the care children receive both as a result of deployment-related separation and the potentially destabilizing impact of deployment on the remaining caregiver and daily routines. The project entails the assessment of parents(N=200) whose spouse/partner is currently in a low perceived risk deployment and has a child between the age of 3 and 7 and comparison groups of civilian single parent families (N=200) and civilian dual parent families (N=200). The objectives of this study are to: 1) identify and measure developmentally salient skills that are indicators of current adaptation among preschool and early childhood boys and girls of civilian intact and single-parent families. This will allow for the identification of military-specific challenges, if any, of child adjustment and developmental milestones, and; 2) examine the role of spousal-perceived Service Member risk on caregiver behaviors associated with parental deployment in the prediction of child adaptation. Specifically, we aimed to determine the role of Spouses ratings of partner risk during deployment predicting child adjustment by surveying families deployed in support brigades. We found evidence of military-specific maternal parent and child emotional health issues as compared to both single and dual parent civilian families. Importantly, maternal parents who engaged in family readiness resources were able to mitigate some of these effects.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 2016
- Accession Number
- AD1031096
Entities
People
- Deane Aikins
- Julie Wargo Aikins
Organizations
- Wayne State University