Nowadays, numerous military conflicts boost the demand for soldiers, which, in its turn, increases the number of military families. They are considered to be a separate group for investigation because scholars determine different psychological disorders, which all family members may have due to the military deployment. The biggest risk group in this situation is children, who demonstrate moderate academic success, detachment and depressive symptoms. The expert in this free descriptive essay supports this opinion and adds that psychological disorders lead to aggression and maltreatment of children. However, the scientists unanimously agree on two other essential points. First of all, the authors want to persuade the readers that military deployment may contribute to the children’s development and proper upbringing. Secondly, the authors stress that the governmental programs specifically designed for the military families are very useful for solving their problems if these programs investigate the impact of deployment on children not only in the period of deployment but also when a parent is staying at home and redeploys. Undoubtedly, complex solutions help to avoid many mental issues and emotional burdens of the young generation.
The Military Family
The problem of child welfare is essential nowadays as a lot of issues related to it have arisen. Though parents may artificially create some difficulties for children while upbringing them, sometimes child welfare is violated because of objective circumstances. One of such circumstances is parental deployment. Living in the military family and having one or even both parents absent for long periods of time greatly affect the psychological state of a child, which may lead to some inevitable consequences. This issue is especially important for young military families and communities in which they live. It is necessary to state that, in case of creating favorable family climate, parental deployment experience develops the best traits in a child and contributes to his or her psychological matureness.
The Life of Military Families
Throughout history, military families have been a social intermediate layer. Their members have always had strength to stay united under any conditions and an ability to adapt to any circumstances. However, warfare, which takes place more and more often in all parts of the world, causes numerous redeployments of soldiers and officers and makes their families face more challenges. These challenges are not limited to the prolonged absence of a parent, but also include a higher possibility of injuries, deaths, divorces and psychological disorders. The deployed men and women confess that their resilience at the front is ensured due to strong family support and close connection. An average military family moves every 2-3 years. There is no doubt that this fact can impact upon the mental health of parents who remain at home (usually mothers), which, in turn, is critical to their children’s adjustment. The researcher also determines certain factors, which aggravate the situation in the military families. It is noted that young families, families with small children, problematic family history, poor education and low-income rates tend to face the risks. Thus, with the growing number of military families and health care aimed at satisfying their needs, psychological problems of their members, in particular children, should be given special attention.
Health and Psychological Problems of Officers and Veterans
Nowadays, medicine has the potential to treat injured officers and veterans. Their mental health is in the focus as well because returning parents may have posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depression, or mild traumatic brain injury as well as substance misuse and other psychiatric disorders. The scholars mention that the last 20 years is the first period in history when the number of veterans and officers’ psychological disorders exceeds the number of the injured and diseased. The mentioned mental problems lead to serious interpersonal issues, which include a high level of irritability, emotional detachment and indifferent attitude to a spouse and children. In order to investigate these issues, the resaercher offers an innovative approach to military families. She states that the research should not be limited to communicating with a father, a mother and children only. The psychologist wants to focus the investigation on a broader understanding of a family: “There are members of the military family who are often neglected in research and intervention. Siblings can play an important role in bolstering the well-being and resilience of military children and deployed service members”. The expert also offers to consider the terms of redeployment, the conditions in which a service member lives and the community in which his family bases. Therefore, good mental health of a veteran and strong social connection with family upon returning home are a clue to solving family conflicts.
Negative Influence of Parental Deployment
Though the spouses of deployed family members greatly suffer, the real victims of the circumstances are children. The U.S. statistics confirm that there are approximately 700,000 children in the country, whose parent is in the military since 2001. The research on the impact of Iraqi occupation on Kuwaiti military families demonstrated that their children had the highest level of depression and anxiety. As military families move a lot, children face socialization problems: “These frequent relocations disrupt children’s schoolwork, activities, and social networks, requiring ongoing adjustment to new schools and cultures. Children can grow up feeling rootless …”. Separation from a parent may have some negative influence not only on child’s mental health but also on his or her school performance. Moreover, the studies demonstrated that, during a parental deployment, the level of child maltreatment and neglect by the parent at home were elevated. In addition, the scientist offers to consider two periods – during war and during peace – separately because each of them may have different negative effects on the children. Thus, when a parent is not at home, the child misses him or her and gets the feeling of personal insecurity and uncertainty. The child may even experience some family roles substitution, when a mother plays the role of a father. When a parent is at home, the child’s inner emotions are substituted by some other feelings. Though a military parent is not at the front, he or she may leave home to perform other military duties, following the order. A child is afraid that a parent will not come back. The worries of a mother are also transferred to a child. When a military father is at home, he is at great risk of being injured, doing the chores. The mother may be nervous, seeing the difficulties her husband experiences. Thus, the psychological problems and worries of both spouses may negatively affect the children.
The crucial factor that can cause unfavorable complications for the military children is the age. The research found that the children over the age of 3 were more exposed to the development of depressive symptoms than younger or older children. Meanwhile, children at secondary school have great difficulty in building long-term relationships with others and adapting to new environments. Adolescents demonstrate rising level of stress, high systolic blood pressure and heart rate. The situation is complicated by the fact that sometimes military teenagers have to learn to assume more responsibilities and change their lifestyle the way they do not want. Even unborn children are not protected from the negative effects. When a husband is deployed, a pregnant wife feels worried and unsecure. Therefore, children of all ages may suffer from parental deployment to a certain degree.
Positive Impact of Parental Deployment
It is important not to overestimate the negative influence of parent’s enlistment on the child. The level of children maltreatment in military families is higher, she notices that the degree of physical abuse in such families is lower than that among civilians. The expert finds more positive aspects in parental deployment. She states that there exists enough evidence, which suggests that academic success, health and well-being of children from military families are the same or even better than those of children of civilians. Thus, they have similar or lower rates of childhood psychopathology, lower rates of juvenile delinquency, lower likelihood of alcohol or drug abuse, better grades, and higher median IQs than do their civilian counterparts. The challenges that military families face do not automatically compromise the moral principles of the children. On the contrary, military values develop the feelings of honor, loyalty, teamwork, sacrifice, sense of purpose and pride. Therefore, if a deployed parent possesses high moral values and tries to transfer them to his or her children when staying at home, they will only benefit from their parent’s military career.
Existing Supporting Programs for Military Families
The issues related to the psychological climate in military families need a complex solution. There is almost no evidence-based assessment of the programs for military families and children. Nobody can say whether they are effective or not. The investigation lacks appropriate samples and comparison schemes. The families are researched only in the period of deployment and the rest of the time is not taken into consideration. The author offers to focus on long-term effects of parent’s enlistment along with the development periods of children, as children of different age are affected differently. The CSF (Comprehensive Soldier Fitness) program, which has recently started, investigates the relations between the soldiers’ performance and their family relationships. The component of child welfare has not been completely implemented yet. Critical point in the research on the military families is moving the focus from veterans to couples and families in order to improve the engagement of service personnel after their deployment, and to recognize and respond to the wider problems that are faced by partners and children.
One more program for military families which is planned to be elaborated in the USA is the so-called the Global Assessment Tool. It is still under development, but its essence is clear for scholars. It assesses person’s strengths and weaknesses in four life aspects: social, family, emotional and spiritual (religious). It is based on some developed training models and can be, actually, applied to other families as well. However, military families are in the special interest, when using the tool, as it is designed to evaluate their unique issues and challenges. Psychologists do not want to cause any complications for the military families to access this tool. It will be available on certain military web sites commonly used by the family members. The results of the survey will stay confidential and will be emailed to the respondents with all their strengths and weaknesses analyzed. On the basis of the survey results, military families will be offered special trainings in personal or social development, psychological or spiritual education. At the present stage, the adult members of the military families will take part in the testing. The children’s strengths and weaknesses will be evaluated by their parents. However, children are planned to be made active participants in the process in the future. Therefore, it is pleasant to note that modern programs for military families exist and just need some clarifications.
It is important to state that military families deserve special attention of scholars and psychologists. The effects of parental deployment can cause psychological problems for their children. However, a child may improve his or her school results and develop the highest moral principles as well. Psychologists should elaborate proper programs for the military families to achieve the positive outcome on a social level. Some recommendations on political and economic levels include a desire of politicians to stop warfare as well as developing reward system, benefits and financial compensations to a deployed parent and his or her family. Undoubtedly, a complex approach will quickly produce positive results.
