How work‐related guilt informs parenting and adolescent psychological distress in military families

• Published date: 01 October 2022
• Author: Meredith L. Farnsworth,Catherine W. O'Neal
• Date: 01 October 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12685

RESEARCH

How work-related guilt informs parenting

and adolescent psychological distress in military

families

Meredith L. Farnsworth|Catherine W. O’Neal

Department of Human Development and

Family Science, University of Georgia Athens,

Georgia, United States

Correspondence

Meredith L. Farnsworth, Department of

Human Development and Family Science,

University of Georgia Athens, 107 Family

Science Center II (House D), Athens, GA

30602, USA.

Email: meredith.farnsworth@uga.edu

Funding information

This study was funded by the U.S. Department

of Agriculture National Institute of Food and

Agriculture (Award No. 2009-48,680-06069;

principal investigator: Jay A. Mancini).

Abstract

Objective: The current study examined inconsistent disci-

pline as a linking mechanism connecting parental guilt

about work to adolescent psychological distress in military

families.

Background: Military families may face tensions connected

to competing demands of family and the military career,

which can produce a sense of parental guilt. This guilt may

contribute to poor parenting behaviors, such as inconsis-

tent discipline, which can be detrimental for adolescents

(e.g., leading to depression and anxiety).

Method: A structural equation model with data from 223 mili-

tary families (i.e., active duty father, civilian mother, and ado-

lescent) examined the associations among parental guilt,

inconsistent discipline, and adolescent psychological distress.

Results: Active duty fathers’guilt and inconsistent disci-

pline were related to their perceptions of adolescent psy-

chological distress, whereas civilian mothers’guilt was

indirectly related to both their own and their partner’s per-

ceptions of adolescent psychological distress through their

inconsistent discipline.

Conclusion: Inconsistent discipline is a parenting behavior

related to parental guilt and adolescent psychological dis-

tress. More research is needed to better understand the

nuances of military contexts for families.

Implications: Inconsistent discipline is a specific, malleable

parenting behavior with implications for prevention and

intervention programs designed for military families as

well as family-related policies in the military.

KEYWORDS

adolescent psychological distress, military families, parenting behaviors,

work-related guilt

Received: 4 December 2020Revised: 24 September 2021Accepted: 11 December 2021

DOI: 10.1111/fare.12685

© 2022 National Council on Family Relations.

Family Relations. 2022;71:1575–1592. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare 1575

More than 400,000 active duty (AD) service members have families that include a civilian

spouse and children (U.S. Department of Defense, 2018), and their career and family have been

conceptualized as “greedy institutions”due to the many competing demands of a military career

and family (Segal, 1986). More specifically, military service is a unique career that often

requires frequent and prolonged absences (e.g., deployment, temporary duty) and transitions

(e.g., geographic relocations) that impact all members of the family system. Additionally, more

than half of civilians married to a service member work outside of the home (U.S. Department

of Defense, 2018), which means the majority of military families are dual-earner families

balancing the responsibilities of two careers. Beyond the challenges experienced by civilian

dual-earner families, dual-earner families with a military member may face further tensions con-

nected to the demands and lack of flexibility of the military parent’s career. The stress of these

competing demands can produce a sense of guilt, such as parents feeling as though they are not

spending enough time with their child(ren). These experiences of guilt may prompt poor parent-

ing behaviors, such as inconsistent discipline, in an attempt to compensate for perceived short-

comings, which can have negative outcomes for adolescents, including depression and anxiety

(Grusec et al., 2017). Thus, inconsistent discipline by the parent(s) may operate as a mechanism

linking experiences of guilt about work (hereafter termed parental guilt) to adolescent psycho-

logical distress. Because inconsistent discipline is a specific and malleable family process, this

research can inform intervention and prevention efforts targeting military adolescent outcomes

that account for the unique contextual challenges of military life.

With data from parent dyads comprising an AD service member and their civilian partner, the

current study addresses the associations between parental guilt of AD and civilian parents, their

inconsistent discipline, and their perceptions of adolescent psychological distress (i.e., depressive

and anxiety symptoms). In particular, the current study addresses the indirect association between

parental guilt and adolescents’psychological distress through parents’inconsistent discipline.

PROCESS MODEL OF THE DETERMINANTS OF PARENTING

Belsky’s(1984) process model of the determinants of parenting posits that parenting behaviors

are determined by a variety of factors, including their contextual stress and support, and that

parenting behaviors, in turn, influence child well-being. Parents’work represents one contextual

domain that may affect parenting (Belsky, 1984). Work–family conflict is defined as one’s per-

ception of the interference of work in family life and is often measured by examining how time

spent at work or time spent focused on work influences time spent with the family (i.e., time

spent at work takes time away from family; Carlson et al., 2000). In contrast, the concept of

parental guilt extends beyond this comparison to assess one’sjudgment of work–family conflict

and the sense of guilt that may be connected to this internal judgment (i.e., the perception of

harm on one’s child due to work commitments; Borelli et al., 2017).

Drawing from Belsky’s(

1984) process model, parental guilt, as a salient contextual stress, may

have implications for the parenting behaviors used by parents. In particular, inconsistent discipline

is a specific parenting behavior linked to negative child outcomes, including emotion regulation

difficulties, internalizing symptoms, and externalizing behaviors (Taraban & Shaw, 2018). For

example, parents’inconsistent discipline creates ambiguous expectations and unclear boundaries

for adolescents, and navigating these unclear expectations and boundaries can result in depressive

symptoms and anxiety (Hoskins, 2014). In the current study, inconsistent discipline refers to a lack

of clear parental communication regarding behaviors they expect from their adolescent and the

consequences for not following rules or not consistently applying communicated consequences

(e.g., lifting restrictions earlier than originally stated; Grusec et al., 2017).

The process model of the determinants of parenting also emphasizes the importance of con-

sidering other relevant indicators of families’context when determining what influences

1576 FAMILY RELATIONS