Baldelomar 1

Janna-Destinee Baldelomar

Reed

Engl 1301

2 November 2022

The Psychosocial Health of Military Children

Ph.D. recipient, Michelle L. Kelley, states in her research that “In a study of over 2,400

adolescents, military and civilian youth did not differ in overall stress and coping; however,

adolescents in military families had moved twice as often and reported significantly more

difficulty leaving their old friends and making new friends than did youth from civilian families.

Furthermore, delays in making new friends were associated with feelings of loneliness,

depression, and social alienation…” (Kelley 1019). Children in military families are known to

experience more challenges than the average adolescent. While most military parents believe

these challenges build resilience in their children, they also negatively impact their psychological

and social-mental health. Deployment, frequent relocation, and family conflict are all factors that

military parents do not realize affect the psychosocial health of their children.

Deployment of their service member parent exposes military children to multiple

emotions that damage their psychosocial health in ways their parents are not aware of. For most

active-duty military members, having to relocate for six to over 12 months every two or three

years is normal; however, a wartime deployment or not, any deployment is a difficult experience

for the service member and their family. A child’s emotional perspective of their parent being

deployed is sadness, leading to depression. For example, the long-term separation causes the

parent to miss major events in their child’s life, like birthdays or high school graduation. Another

feeling associated with deployment that a child undergoes is worry which creates anxiety. For

instance, a service member deployed for combat during wartime is life-risking and with the
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media nowadays, a child assumes the worst for their parent. With their significant other gone, the

parent left to take care of the family tends to have heightened stress levels. A big responsibility

that was managed by two is now all on the shoulders of one. For example, taking care of the kids

and tending to the house all while missing their partner. Because of this, life gets overwhelming

and hostility is a common emotion that is shared between the parent and child. Professor of

Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Duke, John A. Fairbank, revealed that

the deployment of a service member parent for combat is strongly connected to mental distress in

grown children, which includes depression and attention deficit disorders (Fairbank et al. 2018).

All this distress on a child is what puts them at high risk for behavioral problems like anxiety and

depression. In addition to deployment, frequent moving is a significant factor in this topic.

Constant relocation is a part of military life that military parents do not recognize as a

strain on their children’s psychosocial well-being. About every three years, service members are

ordered to go through what is called a permanent change of station (PCS). This means that the

military member and their family have to leave the military station they currently reside in and

relocate to a different station that is chosen for them. Reasons for moving vary, but it is usually

because the service member's duties are needed elsewhere. With roughly 750 U.S. military bases

scattered around the world, moving is often viewed as exciting by outsiders; however, it is one of

the hardest mental challenges military children have to experience. One of the main problems a

child deals with when moving is leaving their current friends. This situation results in anger and

higher chances of depression. For example, a young teen in high school about to graduate finds

out they are moving mid-school-year. The teenager's excitement of walking the stage with their

best friends is now gone and replaced with the dread of having to walk the stage with mere

acquaintances. On top of that, the children of military families have to go through the process of
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making new friends at their new location, resulting in anxiety and loneliness. For instance, even

when surrounded by hundreds in a cafeteria, the military child is the loneliest there. All they

want to do is leave, away from the unknown, and back to the people, they consider home.

Aside from the social aspects of moving, adjusting to an entirely new environment is harmful to

an adolescent’s mental health. For example, trying to fit in and find a place of belonging in a

brand-new atmosphere is what fuels insecurities. In The Mental Health of Military-Connected

Children: A Scoping Review, part of the Journal of Child and Family Studies, it is revealed

through research that “the majority (n = 6) reported negative impacts on mental health including

increases in family tension, behavioral problems (e.g., “protesting” the move), anger, anxiety,

poor adjustment to transition…(Aronson et al. 2016; Bradshaw et al. 2010; Pittman and

Bowen 1994). Unfamiliarity is uncomfortable and disrupts the everyday routine that the child’s

brain is so used to, which is why the result of psychosocial health in military children is poor. As

well as moving, the family climate the children are part of is a major stressor to how their mental

health is altered.

Family conflict in military families leads to ill psychosocial health in adolescents that are

overlooked by their parents. Military life is anything but easy, and military parents deal with

more than what meets the eye. Parental conflict results in emotional trauma and anxiety for the

children. An example is a child seeing two parents always fighting and arguing about the service

member’s work life. When a child, especially one that is young, is living in an environment

where hostility is common, it becomes engraved into their brain growth. This leads to long-term

emotional trauma for the child because they are witnessing continuous antagonism between the

two people that are most present in their life. That bitterness then gets implemented into the

child’s personal life as they get older, because they believe it is normal to behave in such a way.
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Additionally, the conflict between the service member and the whole family is a cause for the

emotional abuse of their children. A situation where this occurs is when a service member comes

home from deployment and is diagnosed with post-traumatic stress order (PTSD). PTSD is a

mental health condition that someone gets after experiencing a severe trauma or life-threatening

event. Symptoms of PTSD include nightmares and flashbacks of the event, avoidance, negative

shifts in thoughts and moods, and constantly being on guard. These symptoms cause anger and

irritability in the service member, which is taken out on family members, including their

children. Ph.D. recipients, Suzannah K. Creech, Wendy Hadley, and Brian Borsari wrote that in

a selected group of National Guard fathers who returned from a year-long combat deployment in

Iraq, higher PTSD symptoms resulted in “poorer parenting practices” (Gewirtz, Polusny,

DeGarmo, Khaylis, & Erbes, 2010). When they are hit with constant verbal degradation, a child

is left with the impression that they are unloved, unimportant, and not enough. One more

outcome of family conflict in military families is mental stress on the children. Military

deployment has an emotional cycle consisting of four stages: pre-deployment, deployment, post-

deployment, and reintegration. Each stage includes different emotions that military families

experience and the reintegration period is where military children go through the most mental

stress. The reintegration phase is when the service member needs to readjust to normal life with

their family and learn about their child’s growth. Frustration in the child is common during this

time, for they feel their everyday routine is being disrupted. If not handled correctly by the

parents, the child’s mental stress will evolve into long-term behavioral problems.

Opponents think military children will get over themselves when it comes to mental

health; however, if not treated properly, their child’s psychosocial health will continue to worsen.

Behavioral problems become more difficult to grow out of the longer they stay untreated. With
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that being said, it is possible that mental illness turns into physical harm to the child. For

instance, a known result of depression is self-harm and suicide. Depression does not have a true

cure, but there are many options available to help keep it at bay. When those options, like

medicine and therapy, are not used, a child’s depression worsens and thoughts of inflicting pain

on themselves are stronger. To further build on that, it is even more of a reason why mental

health and development support is a necessity for military children. To reference again, In The

Mental Health of Military-Connected Children: A Scoping Review, it is stated that early

identification of a mental illness in children is vital because if left untreated, the illness can

become chronic (de Girolamo et al. 2012). Additionally, there is evidence that shows quick

interference can result in the reduction of the mental condition’s severity (de Girolamo et al.

2012; Kirby and Keon 2006). Something as little as therapy once a week is enough to jumpstart

the journey of healing from mental illness. Military children and their psychosocial health need

to be recognized and helped to ensure an enjoyable life as they get older.

For the service member, their spouse, and their children, military life is not easy. They

experience much more than the average civilian household, and that comes with its

consequences. Deployment, frequent relocation, and family conflict all negatively affect the

psychosocial health of military children in ways their parents are not aware of. Mental health

matters and military parents need to step up to ensure their children receive the support they

desperately need.

Works Cited
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Briggs, Ernestine C et al. “Military Life Stressors, Family Communication and Satisfaction:

Associations with Children's Psychosocial Outcomes.” Journal of child & adolescent

trauma vol. 13,1 75-87. 21 May. 2019, doi:10.1007/s40653-019-00259-z

Cramm, Heidi, et al. "The mental health of military-connected children: a scoping review."

Journal of child and family studies 28.7 (2019): 1725-1735.

Creech, Suzannah K., Wendy Hadley, and Brian Borsari. "The impact of military deployment

and reintegration on children and parenting: A systematic review." Professional

Psychology: Research and Practice 45.6 (2014): 452.

Finkel, Lisa B., Michelle L. Kelley, and Jayne Ashby. "Geographic mobility, family, and

maternal variables as related to the psychosocial adjustment of military children."

Military medicine 168.12 (2003): 1019-1024.