Being A Military Child Essay

Everyone has read, at one point or another, the heart-wrenching tale of partners being separated by war and of the trials and tribulations of them persevering through such a trying time. It is a very well-known story because it is easy to imagine how one would feel without their significant other. Imagining this scenario from a child’s perspective, however, is not. Without being a military child, it is nearly impossible to imagine yourself in that situation, as it is so unique. The deployment of a military friend or family member can be difficult for anyone, but for no one more difficult than a child. The deployment of a parent is not only leaving these adolescents sad though, it is leaving adverse emotional and behavioral effects lasting up until the reintegration of the absent parent. Military children have long been known to undergo more stressors than the …show more content…
According to one survey, 20% of military spouses reported, as a consequence of deployment, there was an increase of unruly behavior exhibited within the home. Furthermore, 21% reported elevated levels of fear and anxiety in their children (James & Countryman, 2012). Between November 2005 and June 2006, the Defense Manpower Data Center collected data, by both web and mail, from active-duty spouses to piece together the 2006 Survey of Active-Duty Spouses Administration, Datasets, and Codebook. The Defense Manpower Data Center evaluated the mindsets and opinions of active-duty spouses on a vast amount of quality of life issues. The sample consisted of 36,054 active duty spouses. A total of 11,138 eligible spouses returned usable surveys, which represent an adjusted weighted response rate of 32.7%. The survey concluded that of the children with a deployed parent, there was an increase in problems with sleeping, higher stress levels and anxiety, and maladaptive child behaviors as well as declining grades (Defense Manpower Data Center,