A recent review of risk and resilience factors for
military families
concluded that the stressful effects of
military life on child outcomes (including frequent relocation, parental
deployment, and parental PTSD) are largely mediated by the quality of the parent — child relationship and interactions.
A growing body of evidence suggests that stressors associated with war - related events may predispose youth to adverse outcomes.10 - 17 This stream of research is consistent with family systems theory, which suggests that the experiences of a
military - connected parent will affect the functioning of youth in that family system.18 Although some studies have considered the impact of
military life during wartime, 12,17,19 to our knowledge, most researchers have examined negative outcomes associated specifically with
deployments.1, 7,20 These studies have examined the psychosocial functioning of children during the
deployment of a parent4, 14 or following 1 or multiple
deployments.11, 13,21 Although many
military - connected youth fare relatively well despite stressors, these studies
concluded that a sizeable proportion appears to struggle with experiences of
deployment and other war - related stressors.