Peer-reviewed article
The impact of parental military service on child well-being
H Blamey, Ava Phillips, Donabelle C. Hess, Nicola T. Fear ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5-5This review looked at research published from 2000 to 2017 on how a parent's military service relates to child well-being. It included 36 studies, mostly from the United States, and excluded papers on child maltreatment. The review found that more months of parental deployment, frequent moves, and the disruptions that come with moving are linked to more emotional and behavioural difficulties in children. These difficulties include symptoms of depression, and they were higher than in civilian children. The authors note that most studies were cross-sectional and some had small samples.
Key points
- 36 studies were included: 27 cross-sectional, 4 longitudinal and 5 retrospective cohort studies, mostly from the US.
- Cumulative deployment months and frequent relocation are military-specific factors that affect child well-being.
- Relocation-related factors include expanded household responsibility, disrupted daily routines, academic interruption and disrupted social networks.
- Military children had higher levels of emotional and behavioural difficulties, such as symptoms of depression, than civilian children.
- Future research should look at children from dual military families and use longitudinal designs.
Limitations
Most included studies were cross-sectional and some had small samples, so the review cannot show cause and effect. It covers only English-language studies from NATO and Partnership for Peace countries and excluded child maltreatment, so it says little about other settings or about abuse.
Abstract
Introduction: The aim of this review is to evaluate the literature on the association between parental military-related factors and child well-being. Methods: We conducted a literature search for research published from 2000–2017 from NATO and Partnership for Peace (PfP) countries in the English language only. Eligible studies were those that included topics of military personnel and children’s well-being; papers that included child maltreatment/abuse were excluded. Search databases included Embase, Medline, PsycINFO, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and PubMed. Results: Thirty-six predominantly United States (US)-based studies were included in the review: 27 of cross-sectional study design, 4 longitudinal, and 5 retrospective cohort studies. Discussion: The parental military-specific factors that affect child well-being are cumulative deployment months, frequent relocation, and factors related to relocation such as expanded household responsibility, disrupted daily routines, academic interruption, and disruption to social networks. These factors are associated with military children having higher levels of emotional and behavioural difficulties – such as symptoms of depression – than their civilian counterparts. Limitations of the review include the large proportion of studies with a cross-sectional design, as well as studies with small sample sizes. Indications for future research include looking at children from dual military families and the use of longitudinal study designs.