Associations of combat exposure and parental locus of control in deployed mothers and fathers

• Published date: 01 July 2023
• Author: Neveen Ali‐Saleh Darawshy,Abigail H. Gewirtz,Cheuk H. Cheng,Timothy Piehler
• Date: 01 July 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12725

RESEARCH

Associations of combat exposure and parental locus of

control in deployed mothers and fathers

Neveen Ali-Saleh Darawshy

1

| Abigail H. Gewirtz

2

|

Cheuk H. Cheng

3

| Timothy Piehler

3

1

The Louis and Gabi Weisfeld School of Social

Work, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

2

Department of Psychology and REACH

Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe,

AZ, United States

3

Department of Family Social Science,

University of Minnesota–Twin Cities, Saint

Paul, MN, United States

Correspondence

Abigail H. Gewirtz, Department of

Psychology, Arizona State University, 950 S.

McAllister Ave, Tempe, AZ 85287-1104 USA.

Email: abigail.gewirtz@asu.edu

Funding information

The ADAPT study was funded by a grant

from the National Institute on Drug Abuse,

grant no. DA030114 to Abigail Gewirtz. The

ADAPT4U study was funded by the

Department of Defense; grant no. W81XWH-

1-14-0143 (PI: Gewirtz).

Abstract

Objective: Relying upon the military family stress model,

we evaluated the associations between combat exposure,

PTSD symptoms, and parental locus of control (PLOC)

among mothers and fathers with history of deployment,

using a multigroup analysis.

Background: Few studies have investigated the correlates

of deployment-related stressors for deployed mothers and

none have examined perceptions of parenting efficacy. The

relationship between combat exposure and PTSD symp-

toms may differ by gender.

Method: The sample (421 fathers and 117 mothers) was

selected by combining baseline data from two distinct

randomized controlled trials of a parenting program for post-

deployed military families: ADAPT and ADAPT 4 U

(Gewirtz et al., 2018a).

Results: Our analyses revealed a significant indirect effect

of PTSD symptoms between combat exposure and PLOC,

among deployed parents, with no gender differences in the

indirect effect.

Conclusion: Relationships between combat exposure,

PTSD symptoms, and PLOC support a military family

stress model, and highlight the need to support parents

with PTSD symptoms because PTSD symptoms appear to

be a mechanism through which combat exposure affects

parenting beliefs and perceptions.

Implications: Prevention and intervention research should

focus on how parenting programs might help to reduce

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed

as a potential conflict of interest.

Received: 18 July 2021 Revised: 4 March 2022 Accepted: 26 March 2022

DOI: 10.1111/fare.12725

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits

use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or

adaptations are made.

© 2022 The Authors. Family Relations published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of National Council on Family Relations.

Family Relations. 2023;72:1103–1117. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare 1103