a. This article is about the effects on the family system during parental deployment in the military. This article focuses primarily on youth between the ages of 12-18 and the issues of uncertainty, loss, resilience, and adjustment when dealing with a parent’s deployment, often to a war zone area. I am expecting to learn about the nature of the uncertainty and ambiguous loss that youth face when a parent is deployed and the effects that it has on the individual and the family system. There was not necessarily a research question posed, but rather a claim that when uncertainty and ambiguous loss was explored, responses that were elicited from youth included perceptions of uncertainty and loss, boundary ambiguity, changes in mental health, and
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Sociologists have already learned that, “loss and uncertainty are because of circumstances and situations, as well as perceptions people have about those situations”. In addition, each individual processes and deals with uncertainty in a variety of ways, therefore each person’s experience with dealing with loss is different. Researchers have also linked parental deployment to several youth outcomes like depression, acting act or negative behavioral adjustment, poor academic performance, and increased irritability and impulsiveness. The authors of this article want to make a contribution to this topic by looking at the ambiguous loss, in which a deployed parent is alive but not present with the child and the effects that this has on the family system, but particularly adolescents. A theoretical perspective discussed is the social organization theory to explain the contextual influences on families as adolescent as they experience …show more content…
The results found in this study were categorized in four main groups: overall perceptions of uncertainty and loss, boundary ambiguity, change in mental health, and relationship conflict. Results found in overall perceptions of uncertainty and loss were overall when asked how an adolescent felt about a parents deployment very few used positive terms to describe their feelings. Many also expressed conflicting feelings about the deployment, like angry and proud or denial to recognition and also the feeling of a physical presence as a “loss”. Boundary ambiguity results found when asked the question, “How does your life change when a parent is deployed?” 60 participants discussed changes in roles and responsibilities, 50 discussed themes consistent with routine changes, and 12 discussed issues of reintegration. The results found when looking at changes in mental health were concluded that 34 participants made statements that reflected a noticeable change in mental health. Particularly signs consistent with depression, loss of interest, isolation, changes in sleep and eating parents, sadness and crying, and in 2 cases psychiatric hospital admissions. The findings under relationship conflict included, 34 participants giving examples of family emotional intensity, 27 participants attesting to “lashing out” at others for things that normally would not upset them, 41 reported noticing changes in their mother’s behaviors and emotions, and 42 experienced difficulties or reintegrating
Sociologists have already learned that, “loss and uncertainty are because of circumstances and situations, as well as perceptions people have about those situations”. In addition, each individual processes and deals with uncertainty in a variety of ways, therefore each person’s experience with dealing with loss is different. Researchers have also linked parental deployment to several youth outcomes like depression, acting act or negative behavioral adjustment, poor academic performance, and increased irritability and impulsiveness. The authors of this article want to make a contribution to this topic by looking at the ambiguous loss, in which a deployed parent is alive but not present with the child and the effects that this has on the family system, but particularly adolescents. A theoretical perspective discussed is the social organization theory to explain the contextual influences on families as adolescent as they experience …show more content…
The results found in this study were categorized in four main groups: overall perceptions of uncertainty and loss, boundary ambiguity, change in mental health, and relationship conflict. Results found in overall perceptions of uncertainty and loss were overall when asked how an adolescent felt about a parents deployment very few used positive terms to describe their feelings. Many also expressed conflicting feelings about the deployment, like angry and proud or denial to recognition and also the feeling of a physical presence as a “loss”. Boundary ambiguity results found when asked the question, “How does your life change when a parent is deployed?” 60 participants discussed changes in roles and responsibilities, 50 discussed themes consistent with routine changes, and 12 discussed issues of reintegration. The results found when looking at changes in mental health were concluded that 34 participants made statements that reflected a noticeable change in mental health. Particularly signs consistent with depression, loss of interest, isolation, changes in sleep and eating parents, sadness and crying, and in 2 cases psychiatric hospital admissions. The findings under relationship conflict included, 34 participants giving examples of family emotional intensity, 27 participants attesting to “lashing out” at others for things that normally would not upset them, 41 reported noticing changes in their mother’s behaviors and emotions, and 42 experienced difficulties or reintegrating