parental military deployment and early child development 2012
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Jacquelyn Jacobson 1
Parental Military Deployment and Early Child Development
Jacquelyn Jacobson
University of Washington, Tacoma
Dr. Michelle Garner
TSOCW 502: Human Behavior in the Social Environment
July 26, 2015
Jacquelyn Jacobson 2
Psychological, social, and emotional development is an ongoing process that is constantly
responding to internal and external pressures throughout the life cycle. In the last decade there
has been a significant increase in the number of children whose development is impacted by
complex family dynamics within the context of military life, more specifically with regards to
parental deployment. To the 2.2 million active-duty service members there are almost 2 million
children, 40% of which are 5 years old and younger (Flake, Davis, Johnson, & Middleton, 2009).
Negative consequences of a deployed parent in younger children include behavioral problems,
difficulty adjusting to shifting family roles, and separation anxiety (Barker & Berry, 2009).
However, the negative consequences that have been observed in children with a deployed parent
can be mitigated by a strong support-network and is positively related to healthy coping of the
non-deployed parent (Riggs & Riggs, 2011) .
There are clear distinctions between active and reservist service members of the military;
these distinctions are significantly correlated to the needs of the families whose military member
is called to duty. Generally service members who have pursued military life as a career have a
more concentrated immersion in the military culture and have relatively easier access to
community supports and services (Chandra, et al., 2010). In contrast to active service members,
the reservists and their families generally are more isolated from other serving families and have
fewer means to access some of the supports that are most needed in times of transition such as
when a family service member receives notice for deployment (Lemmon & Chartrand, 2009). It
is important for treatment professionals, who work with children who might be members of a
military family, to recognize and make efforts to tune into situations were potential risks for mal-
adjustment show-up in a child’s behavior. In young children maladjustment may be
demonstrated by observed unhappiness, disruption in relationships with peers and conduct
problems such as biting or hitting (Applewhite & Mays, 1996). Lemmon and Chartrand (2009)
would suggest that general practitioners be aware of deployment cycles in their community and
to make an effort to listen to a child’s report of how they are experiencing such transitions
because of the distinct culture that exists within a military setting.
Most current research on the negative effects of deployment on child development is
limited by the methods that are available to measure such outcomes. There is a predominant
tendency to rely on interview/questionnaires administered to the non-deployed parents of these
families who are asked to self-report their experiences and the perceived experiences of their
children (Flake, Davis, Johnson, & Middleton, 2009). While there have been efforts made to
incorporate the child’s perspectives, even these studies need additional support because the
measures available need to be tested for their external validity (Chandra, et al., 2010).
The strongest recommendations that the current research has made when addressing child
development in a family with a deployed service member is to make sure there are supports
available for the non-deployed caregiver. There have been strong correlations in U.S. and
international studies between the caregiver’s response to deployment and the child’s subsequent
response/adjustment to deployment (Andres & Moelker, 2010; Weinstock, 2012). Suggested
interventions also include arming medical and mental health practitioners with the knowledge
and resources to identify early on the at-risk tendencies for child maladjustment and provide
proactive evidence based interventions and supports (Esposito-Smythers, et al., 2011; Bargeron,
2010).
The ecological systems perspective would view the problem of negative impacts of
deployment on children by looking at the dynamics and relationships that the child has to both
parent/caregivers (deployed and not) in addition to the relationship to the child’s environment;
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especially if that child’s parent is not a career service member and therefore living on or near a
base where they child would have more access to a community who understands what they are
going through and resources to help cope with the difficulties of a deployed parent (Flake, Davis,
Johnson, & Middleton, 2009; Esposito-Smythers, et al., 2011). Consistent with the research that
is available, the ecological perspective would suggest interventions as they relate to various
approaches within the child’s systems: support for the non-deployed caregiver, support and
understanding from teachers and the community, introducing children to peers who may also be
going through a deployment in their family.
Another theoretical perspective that has implications related to the problem of
deployments affect on children is the developmental theory on human behavior. Developmental
theory evaluates a person’s situation within the context of time and relative to factors that may
have impacted their development at previous stages in the life course. This theory is significant
for preventive implications as it relates to the impacts of child development and parental
deployment. Erickson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development identify basic trust versus mistrust
as a significant milestone that occurs between birth and 12 months of age and autonomy or
initiative versus guilt or shame between 12 and 36 months of age (Hutchinson, 2011). If a child
does not develop health outcomes during these milestones there may be significant issue later on
in life. The potentially traumatic separation that happens when a child’s parent is intermittently
absent from the family dynamic have been shown to have negative effects on the child’s
psychosocial and emotional development (Flake, Davis, Johnson, & Middleton, 2009). Knowing
that there are real developmental consequences of deployment is so that early interventions can
be established. The best interventions currently available are related to the non-deployed parent
and coping tools to increase accessibility of and communications with the deployed parent
(Riggs & Riggs, 2011). Military families were previously taught that “if a child was too young to
understand deployment they were too young to be affected by it” this idea has since been
challenged by research but is important to note because as a child may begin to display behaviors
of maladjustment parents, teachers, social workers, and treatment professionals can use
developmental theory to more clearly identify and intervene on triggered events (Bargeron,
2010).
Case Study
On November 24, 2012 I interviewed Michelle Carvallo regarding her observations of
her son Jose’s development and the impact on her family of having a deployed spouse. Michelle
is a 26 year old Caucasian female and her husband, Alejandro is a 26 year old Hispanic male;
they have been married since 2008 and their son Jose will be 4 years old in April 2013. The
interview was conducted at the Woodinville King County Library and lasted just under three
hours. Upon arrival to the library Michelle and Jose quickly unloaded their “gear” at the table
where she and I would be talking and Jose confidently went straight to the children’s section and
settled in without any direction from his mother. Because of the holiday weekend Michelle and
Jose had multiple bags with them as they were staying with various family members throughout
King and Snohomish County before flying to Hawaii, where Alejandro is currently stationed.
Michelle and Alejandro recently purchased a home in Roy, Washington which they hope to settle
into together once he is reassigned back to Washington sometime in the Spring of 2013.
We discussed Jose’s development from birth to present within the context of his father’s
deployment phases: pre-deployment, deployment, and post-deployment/reunification. Jose was
born in April 2009 and Alejandro’s first deployment was from September 2009-August 2010 and
his second deployment was in January 2012 to present; with each deployment Alejandro did
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have temporary returns home about halfway through which lasted about two weeks at a time.
With both the first and second deployments Michelle noted that Jose could recognize his father
but did not realize he was gone, for deployment, until he returned from the extended absence.
Consistent with his developmental stage Jose exhibited separation anxiety after Alejandro’s
temporary return home in April 2010. Between 8 and 12 months of age infants start to develop
object permanence, when they start to understand that objects or people exist even when they
can’t see them; this new awareness leads to separation anxiety because “infants begin to
remember previous separations and recognize the signs of an impending separation”
(Hutchinson, 2011). Fortunately the Carrillo’s have a strong support network of friends and
family concentrated within close proximity to one another. Michelle is actively involved in her
church congregation and she frequently seeks out peers for Jose to interact and play with whether
they are children of other family members or friends.
Through the first few years of development (birth to four years) children go through a
plethora of milestones as they relate to various types of development including, but not limited
to: physical, emotional, social and cognitive. According to currently available research a parent’s
deployment can negatively impact young children, as measured by reported behavioral problems,
an increase in clingy attachment at reunion, and an inconsistent sense of self as roles and family
dynamics change relative to the behaviors of children without a deployed parent (Barker &
Berry, 2009). Research also indicates that positive outcomes related to parental deployment are
correlated with a strong support network, a well adjusted non-deployed parent, and additional
coping factors such as maintaining a “psychological presence” of the deployed parent (Riggs &
Riggs, 2011). A psychological presence is when the family maintains consistent roles and
expectations regardless of physical presence. Families may seek out means to maintain these
boundaries with assistive tools and technology. Michelle reported that to maintain Alejandro’s
psychological presence she and Jose Skype or message him regularly, Jose has a story book with
a vocal recording of his father reading the story and Jose has a “daddy doll” which is a soldier
doll with a picture of Alejandro in the facial area. After the Carrillo’s first post-deployment
phase, in August 2010, Michelle began to notice some maladjustment or behavioral problems
exhibited by Jose. After his father returned home Jose began to act out more aggressive play with
other kids, he had an increase incidence of hitting behaviors for about six months after
Alejandro’s return home and he behaved especially clingy whenever either of his parents would
leave the room. While these behaviors dissipated over time they recurred again in 2012 when
Alejandro left for his second deployment and occurred during the deployment phase where as
earlier it only occurred in the post-deployment phase.
From my observations of Jose in the time that we were at the library I was very
impressed with his independence and well-mannered behavior. When they first arrived Jose
politely greeted me and seemed to be aware of appropriate behavior for the environment. He was
familiar with the computer and resources in the children’s area and settled in independently.
Throughout the interview Jose came over two times, once because he needed to go to the
bathroom and the other because he needed help wiping his nose. When Michelle and I were done
with our interview and we were packing up Jose was very engaging and proceeded to tell me
about his girlfriend Sophie, how he was going to his Nana’s house later that day and how much
fun he had with Grandpa Mark over the Thanksgiving holiday. Physically he seems taller than
other kids his age, Michelle confirmed that relative to other 3-4 year olds Jose plays with he is
often the biggest. With regards to Jose’s emotional health Michelle said that he outwardly
expresses how he feels by stating “my heart hurts”, “I’m angry”, or “I’m happy”. Both Michelle
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and Jose appear to have healthy identities related to career-military life; when asked about the
challenges related to having an active-duty spouse Michelle replied that “this is what she signed
up for” and that when people ask Jose if he is sad about his dad being gone he simply replies that
“Dad is working”.
Michelle described Jose’s strengths as his strong orientation to family, caring nature, and
understanding of roles and authority. Around 12 months old, Jose started developing strong
language skills in both English and Spanish; right around the time he turned three years old, four
to six months after Alejandro’s second deployment, Jose developed a rapid stutter where “it was
like his mouth couldn’t keep up with his mind” and then within a month the stutter slowed down
and it was as if Jose was trying to be more thoughtful in his cognitions but wasn’t able to
articulate those ideas effectively.
When faced with a particularly frustrating situation Jose is usually able to cope using
auditory stimulation, by being removed from the stressful situation and given music to listen to.
With regards to stress as it relates to Alejandro’s deployment, Jose will take initiative to send his
dad a message via text, email, or Skype when he is especially missing him. He has a few
comforting tools like his “daddy doll” and story books that have his dad’s recorded voice that
make him seem not as absent. In addition to the stress of having an absent parent because of
deployment, there is also stress as it relates to moving around between different homes, Hawaii
where Alejandro is stationed and Washington where the rest of the family lives. According to
Michelle, Jose adjusts to the transition between environments relatively quickly but there are
periods of adjustment as Jose becomes familiar with the new set-up. Because of the
inconsistency of having an active-duty deployed parent Jose’s development seems to be
inconsistent in the sense that he has hit developmental milestone relatively early when compared
to his peers but he has periods where he retreats, developmentally, and may not maintain a
particular milestone achievement.
The information obtained from my case study of the Carvallo family dynamic and Jose’s
development is consistent with the current literature available on the subject of the affects of
military deployment and early childhood development. Much of the research looks at the impact
on behavioral development and what factors may contribute to or mitigate negative outcomes.
Healthy attachment to family, positive expressed behaviors and developmentally positive social
interactions at the stages of development between birth and three years are at risk of negative
outcomes if the child and non-deployed parent lack a strong support network of friends, family,
and support services (Chandra, Martin, Hawkins, & Richardson, 2010). While Jose does
occasionally exhibit problem behaviors Michelle indicated, consistent with my observations, that
Jose behaves appropriately in public and that negative behaviors exhibited at home may be
because Jose is more comfortable at home and thus more likely to act out because of the stress of
not having his dad around. Michelle appears to have a strong sense of self and healthy coping
related to the deployment of her spouse; she seeks out support from her friends and family and
has a generally positive affect.
Examining individual outcomes of those experiencing a deployed parent or spouse is
most effectively done when looking at the situation within the ecological systems perspective.
Both the risk and protective factors for the outcomes related to deployment have implications
and interventions throughout an individual’s ecological system. Whether a child experiences a
positive or negative outcome related to parental deployment can be affected by the individual
parent-child relationship, family dynamics with extended friend and family support, community
network with other military families who are also experiencing deployment, and resources in the
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military network to help the non-deployed parent cope financially, psychologically or otherwise.
It is important in Social Work practice to recognize the various dynamics impacting an
individual and provide service considerate to the inherent complexities of human behavior.
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