One example of Boricevic Marsanic and their colleagues is, “Children of male veterans have a higher chance of attempting suicide” (Boricevic Marsanic et. al.).This quote explains how the disorder affects children who may never have a traumatic experience in their life. The disorder has mental effects on all the people associated, the veteran, their family, friends, everybody. Another example of how PTSD affects children and teens is “The presence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in trauma survivors has been linked with family dysfunction and symptoms in their children, including lower self-esteem, higher disorder rates, and symptoms resembling those of the traumatized parent” (Mellor et. al.). Mellor and the other authors of this article in an Australian magazine express how children tend to have more problems internally. The quote also states how the children may even have symptoms the parent with PTSD had, which means that it could cause problems for the child without them even having a traumatic moment in their
Allen, E. S., Rhoades, G. K., Stanley, S. M., & Markman, H. J. (2010). Hitting home: Relationships between recent deployment, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and marital functioning for Army couples. Journal Of Family Psychology, 24(3), 280-288. doi:10.1037/a0019405
To summarize (Kaplow, Layne, Saltztman, Cozza & Pynoos, 2013, p. 322-340) this article looks at how grief through exposure to loss due to combat fights, loss of fellow unit members, or the loss of a service member can affect a service member or military family during deployment and reintegration phases. The article goes on to discuss some of the stresses that can increase due to deployments such as martial conflicts, abuse or neglect, and mental health problems stemming from both spouses or children. More military children function equally as well as their civilian counterparts, except during times of deployment where they experience more emotional and behavioral problems. The article looks at three key areas Separation distress characterized as missing the deceased. Existential/Identity Distress finding meaning or fulfillment, or taking on roles left by the deceased. Circumstance-Related Distress characterized as emotional pain brought on by how the deceased passed. The article furthermore looks into how the age of the military children plays into their separation distress. Followed by their existential/identity Distress may be disrupted by new
An article titled "How Deployment Stress Affects Children and Families: Research Findings" estimated that “by the end of 2008, 1.7 million American Service Members had served in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF).” Each person is different. They experience and interpret situations unique to their personality that varies depending on the person, but war produces the same problems for members of the nuclear family. War creates a cloud of worry and anxiety. “Parents of [military personnel] often have misgivings (Lediaev).” These reservations and
Therefore, the effects of PTSD can alter a child’s behavior. Children who experience PTSD demonstrate social and behavioral problems, emotional problems and secondary traumatization which can continue into adulthood. Research in Vietnam Veteran 's families have revealed that “children of Veterans with PTSD are at higher risk for
Military children are in a league of their own, and at very young ages are thrown into situations of great stress. Approximately 1.2 million children live in the U.S. Military families (Kelly. 2003) and at least 700,000 of them have had at least one parent deployed (Johnson et al. 2007). Every child handles a deployment differently, some may regress in potty training, and others may become extremely aggressive. Many different things can happen, in most cases when a parent deploys and the child becomes difficult to handle, it can cause a massive amount of stress on the parent that is not deployed as well as added stress on the parent who is deployed. There are three stages of a deployment, pre-deployment, deployment, and reintegration,
While many articles look at military children and how they cope with deployments this article (Cozza & Lerner, 2013, p. 3-11) examines the resilience of military children so that professionals can better understand military children as a whole child not just a child during and post deployment. This article also looks at how military children need to have policies and programs that are designed to meet their developing needs. The article further goes on to look at how professionals need incorporate the strengths of military children and the strengths they bring to their military families, so they can cope with the challenges that arise in their lives. This article points out that many children exposed to traumatic events tend to be healthier. Then the article discusses how overgeneralization of military children and families can hurt how programs and policies are enacted to benefit military children and families. It also looks at even though military pay has improved the wages of a military spouse are much lower than their civilian counterparts. A look at how the youngest of military children are the most vulnerable, how there needs to be more childcare as well as community support programs. Concluding with how we can gain insight and learn from the resilience and strengths that military children and military families
Soldiers are impacted by their experiences in war however; surviving the challenges of war can be rewarding, maturing, and growth-promoting (e.g. higher self-efficacy, enhanced identity and sense of purposefulness, pride, camaraderie, etc.) on the other hand, demands, stressors, and conflicts of participation in war, could also be also be traumatizing for veterans, highly destructive, and cause change in potentially damaging ways; with significant impact to quality of life, well-being, and mental health (Department of Veterans Affairs). Indirect effects of combat veterans PTSD may also occur with family members (Berger, 2015). Writer will discuss combat veterans exposure to stressful events, mode of coping and impact on mental health.
Surveys are sent out to over a thousand recipients, but a total of 108 returned the survey completed. Not all family members participated of those 108 participants. Of the participants soldiers completed the PTSD checklist, soldier and spouse completed the secondary trauma scale (STS), and both spouses completed the other sections that included the STS, hurt-insult-threaten-scream (HITS), relax-alone-friends-family-trouble (RAFFT) (Herzog, Everson & Whitworth, 2011). The results of this survey did reveal that spouses and children are at an increased risk of underlining stress. It also revealed that the symptoms are similar to those of posttraumatic stress disorder, with depression and anxiety also being a contributing factor with military spouses and children.
This article identifies the effects of combat exposure on a group of Army National Guard Soldiers and explores the secondary and mediating effects of combat on the soldiers’ spouses and children. The top three questions overall asked in this study was: if the Soldiers were deployed to combat from a Midwestern Army National Guard unit which experienced higher levels of traumatic stress symptoms; whether Soldiers traumatic stress symptoms are correlated with secondary stress experienced by their spouse and children; whether secondary spousal stress symptoms mediate the secondary stress experienced by their children. The way the study was tested was through many series of tests and surveys. Introductory letters, sealed surveys and reminder cards were sent to 1,011 households. The introductory letter described the study and addressed the possible risks and benefits from participating in the project. The survey was mailed out and followed by three reminder cards, which were sent over a seven-week period. However, not all houses received the survey section of the project because the household needed to have an Army National Guard Solider, a spouse living with them and at
My preconceived thoughts regarding military families and children were that deployed parents had a difficult time re-engaging, which increases the likelihood of arguments and disagreements, primarily about their partners’ military career and issues related to the children. The literature states that this is very accurate (Fraser, 2011; Hall, 2008; Williamson, 2012), and I actually experienced this hands-on during my second year field placement. To keep it short, the veteran stated that he’s had three divorces because of accused domestic violence allegations and he also does not have the best relationships with his children. This implication reaffirmed my preconception about veterans that much more, but I had to take a step back and understand
Deployment and integration are one the greatest challenges military families and children have to face on a daily basis. When a family member deploys or reintegrates within the entire family, it not only affects the service member but it affects the entire family. Deployment can often lead to families and children, experiencing a negative mental health outcomes and compromised wellbeing. Bello (2015) found that most families and children (80.5% required less than one month to adjust to the return of their deployed parent (Bello, 2015). Accordingly, the families and children are often quick to adjust to having their family member back in the home. Interestingly, discoveries are surprising in light of the fact that when contrasted to another family, the discoveries are definitely unique. Boberiene (2014) found that three out of every four families feel that reintegration after the first three months is the most stressful phase of a deployment (Boberiene, 2014). This is because the family experiences many emotions while the member is away.
When a parent is deployed to serve at war, a child faces many hardships in his well-being. The main problem is that early children face many social, emotional, and physical problems when a parent goes to war and returns with a health issue. Children under age of five are developing negative behaviors, for example Home Front Alert: The Risk Facing Young Children In Military Families states that “children in military families with a deployed parent may experience stress, anxiety, and difficult coping, as well as academic problems” (Murphey, 2013, p. 4). This reveals that absent parents are not fulfilling the child’s cognitive needs, which plays an important in their health. Thus, children
While researching for this assignment, I learned that being the child of a military service member could be extremely challenging for a child to deal with. Not only do they have to deal with constant changes of schools and friends whenever their parents are reassign to other locations in addition to the high levels of stress caused when their parents are deployed to combat. Being deployed is a fact of life for military members. This experience has enabled me to develop a deeper sense of awareness and compassion for military children and the hardships the face.
By the end of 2008, 1.7 million American service members had served in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom (US Department of Veterans Affairs, 2009). Military personal serving in Iraq and Afghanistan run the risk of developing problems such as depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and anxiety due there deployments. Parents and caregivers forget about the children that are left behind when they deploy. Usually the mother is the parent that is left behind to raise the child or children. The mother’s responsibilities grow, they are now both parents, worries about financial issues and also about the safety for that spouse who is deployed.