Changes in Parenting and Youth Adjustment Across the Military Deployment Cycle

• Date: 01 April 2018
• Author: Shawn D. Whiteman,Shelley M. MacDermid Wadsworth,Jean‐François Cardin,Allison E. Flittner O'Grady
• Published date: 01 April 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12457

A E. F O’G Fox Valley Technical College

S D. W Utah State University∗

J-F C Health and Social Services University Institute of

Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal∗∗

S M. MD W Purdue University∗∗∗

Changes in Parenting and Youth Adjustment Across

the Military Deployment Cycle

This study examined how changes in at-home

parents’ mental health and parenting practices

related to changes in their children’s adjust-

ment throughout the course of a service mem-

bers’ military deployment. Participantsincluded

at-home parents from 114 National Guardfami-

lies who were interviewed at four differentocca-

sions across the deployment cycle. The results

revealed changes across the deployment cycle

among the following three indicators: parental

warmth, depressive symptoms, and children’s

externalizing behaviors. Changes in parental

warmth were associated with changes in chil-

dren’s adjustment. Overall, these ndings indi-

cate that during parental separation, at-home

Fox ValleyTechnical College, 1825 N. Bluemound Dr.,

Appleton, WI 54912.

∗Department of Family, Consumer,and Human

Development, Utah State University,2705 Old Main Hill,

Logan, UT 84322 (Shawn.Whiteman@usu.edu).

∗∗University Institute on Troubled Youth,Health and Social

Services University Institute of Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-

Montréal, 1001 Maisonneuve East, Montreal, QC H2L

4R5, Canada.

∗∗∗Department of Human Development and Family

Studies, Purdue University,1200 W. State St., West

Lafayette, IN 47907.

Key Words: development or outcomes, family process, mili-

tary families, multilevel models, parenting.

parents’ responses to children have important

implications for children’s adjustment.

Many families experience events that require

parents to separate temporarily from their chil-

dren for a variety of reasons (e.g., extended

travel for work, incarceration). Studying how

these separations affect children can be a chal-

lenge because there is often little notice and

limited control in their timing and duration.

Military deployments provide unique oppor-

tunities to study this phenomenon as children

progress through the separation and return of a

parent within a semistructured time frame. The

ndings from this research can be applicable

to both military families and civilian families

experiencing extended parent–child separation.

Military deployments have implications for

all members of the family (Lapp et al., 2010;

MacDermid Wadsworth et al., 2016; Riggs &

Riggs, 2011). Children and at-home (i.e., non-

deployed) parents must cope with separation

from the absent family member. The departure

of a parent or partner may have direct effects

on the children’s and at-home parents’ adjust-

ments (Pincus, House, Christenson, & Adler,

2001; Riggs & Riggs, 2011). There also may be

indirect effects on children because their deploy-

ing parents’ departure also may inuence their

at-home parent’s mental health and his or her

Journal of Marriage and Family 80 (April 2018): 569–581 569

DOI:10.1111/jomf.12457