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The Deployment Of Military Personnel

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At the end of 2013, there was over 1.4 million active duty U.S. military personnel, of which approximately half have a spouse and/or children (Department of Defense, 2014). Once deployment orders are received, these servicemen and women must say goodbye to their loved ones for up to fifteen months. During this time of separation, these families will go through dramatic changes in an effort to make up for the absence of a spouse and/or parent. The deployment of military personnel adversely affects their families by causing negative emotional and/or behavioral changes, by continuously altering the framework of the family dynamic, and by increasing the risk factors for divorce upon their post-deployment reintegration. Deployment of a parent and/or spouse can cause a myriad of behavioral and/or emotional changes in the family members at home. The stress of deployment on the spouse at home can cause mental health issues that have a negative impact on their relationship with their child(ren) and their parenting practices (Swenson & Wolff, 2011). Subsequently, a spouse left to parent and carry on alone for months on end may begin to feel the weight of their compounded responsibilities. This heaviness, added to the fear for their spouse’s safety and the heartache of loneliness, can be felt in such a deep way that depression, insomnia, and anxiety lead them to needing medication and/or therapy. In the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, Flake, Davis,

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