Parental Deployment and Child Development
There have been more that 2 million children that have reported having a parent deployed for military service at least once in their lifetime, according to a CNN news article (Fantz, 2014). With this statistic being so large, it is important for us as a community to consider not only the parents being deployed, but also the children. With so many children growing up with parents overseas, it is an easy misconception that because these children are so young in the development process, they will ultimately be immune to the changes and stresses in the family system. Many people believe that the children will quickly grow out of any behavioral problems that occur due to the deployment of a parent. This …show more content…
The research conducted will focus on three main aspects, development theory and attachment, emotional availability and depression, and child maltreatment and domestic violence. Relationships are critical to a child’s development, and even more important, is the consistency of a caretaker. “Developmental theory, when applied to early attachment, can help us understand how stressful events affect young children and their families, particularly when those events lead to changes in routines and the absence of a family member” (Osofsky et al., 2013). These attachment theories can create social and emotional growth which will in turn, make for more positive social interactions in later life for a child. “Separating young children from their parents can disrupt the attachment relationship, and contribute to anxiety and behavioral problems” (Osofsky et al., 2013). Attachment develops in a child’s first year of life and disrupting this attachment due to the absence of a parent can cause the child to develop anxiety and even anger towards the deployed parent, this creating an insecure attachment style. According to Osofsky and Chartrend (2013), “Even 60 years later, adults who had been separated from their parents as children during the …show more content…
It is seen throughout each article that researchers are agreeing on the fact that it is crucial to many children, that we as a community, begin to reach out to these children and families in order to help them receive the support that they need. “Greater awareness is needed regarding the differential effects of military deployment based on the pre-existing resources, mental health, and coping vulnerabilities of children and families” (Bello- Utu et al., 2015). Most of the research done on the issue have involved children who are old enough to be going to school, but there is very little groundwork being done on younger children and the developmental process. By looking into a CNN article on deployment and child development, we can see that popular media is much more focused on displaying the emotional toll that deployment takes on children. “Exhausted and desperate, Melissa rushed to the store, wailing children in tow. She found a GI Joe doll with black hair like her husband 's and placed it in her daughter 's hands. "Daddy," the girl said” (Fantz, 2014). This technique seen in the quote is used by the popular media to draw readers in to educate them further about the effects of parental deployment on young children. What was most interesting, was the fact that the popular media article did bring up a
There have been more that 2 million children that have reported having a parent deployed for military service at least once in their lifetime, according to a CNN news article (Fantz, 2014). With this statistic being so large, it is important for us as a community to consider not only the parents being deployed, but also the children. With so many children growing up with parents overseas, it is an easy misconception that because these children are so young in the development process, they will ultimately be immune to the changes and stresses in the family system. Many people believe that the children will quickly grow out of any behavioral problems that occur due to the deployment of a parent. This …show more content…
The research conducted will focus on three main aspects, development theory and attachment, emotional availability and depression, and child maltreatment and domestic violence. Relationships are critical to a child’s development, and even more important, is the consistency of a caretaker. “Developmental theory, when applied to early attachment, can help us understand how stressful events affect young children and their families, particularly when those events lead to changes in routines and the absence of a family member” (Osofsky et al., 2013). These attachment theories can create social and emotional growth which will in turn, make for more positive social interactions in later life for a child. “Separating young children from their parents can disrupt the attachment relationship, and contribute to anxiety and behavioral problems” (Osofsky et al., 2013). Attachment develops in a child’s first year of life and disrupting this attachment due to the absence of a parent can cause the child to develop anxiety and even anger towards the deployed parent, this creating an insecure attachment style. According to Osofsky and Chartrend (2013), “Even 60 years later, adults who had been separated from their parents as children during the …show more content…
It is seen throughout each article that researchers are agreeing on the fact that it is crucial to many children, that we as a community, begin to reach out to these children and families in order to help them receive the support that they need. “Greater awareness is needed regarding the differential effects of military deployment based on the pre-existing resources, mental health, and coping vulnerabilities of children and families” (Bello- Utu et al., 2015). Most of the research done on the issue have involved children who are old enough to be going to school, but there is very little groundwork being done on younger children and the developmental process. By looking into a CNN article on deployment and child development, we can see that popular media is much more focused on displaying the emotional toll that deployment takes on children. “Exhausted and desperate, Melissa rushed to the store, wailing children in tow. She found a GI Joe doll with black hair like her husband 's and placed it in her daughter 's hands. "Daddy," the girl said” (Fantz, 2014). This technique seen in the quote is used by the popular media to draw readers in to educate them further about the effects of parental deployment on young children. What was most interesting, was the fact that the popular media article did bring up a