As a consequence of various causes, numerous children are confronted with parental separation. By following families in the course of military deployments, this study aimed at enhancing knowledge on temporary father—child separation. Data were part of a longitudinal study of military families and were collected among Dutch service members and their partners before, during, and after a deployment to Bosnia or Afghanistan. Results revealed that the great majority of the children adapted quite well to the separation and reunion. Furthermore, the general well-being of the children, the mothers, and the fathers in the mission area was positively related. Unlike separation characteristics, maternal well-being was predictive of children’s adjustment in the course of paternal deployment. Hence, the findings underline the importance of helping spouses cope with the absences of service members as it increases the chances that children will also be doing well in the course of parental absence.
Morten G. Ender , Military Brats and Other Global Nomads: Growing Up in Organization Families (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2002); Morten G. Ender, ‘‘Military Brats: Film Representations of Children from Military Families,’’Armed Forces & Society32 (2005): 24-43; and Morten G. Ender, ‘‘Voices from the Backseat: Growing Up in Military Families,’’ in Military Life: The Psychology of Serving in Peace and Combat, Volume 3, The Military Family, ed. Carl A. Castro, Amy B. Adler, and Thomas W. Britt (Westport, CT: Praeger , 2006), 138-66.
2.
Wendy Sigle-Rushton and Sara McLanahan, ‘‘Father Absence and Child Well-Being: A Critical Review’’ (Working Paper #02-20, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing, Princeton University, 2002), 11; also see Julia K. Vormbrock, ‘‘Attachment Theory as Applied to Wartime and Job-Related Marital Separation,’’ Psychological Bulletin 114 (1993): 122-44.
3.
Don M. LaGrone, ‘‘The Military Family Syndrome,’’American Journal of Psychiatry135 (1978): 1040-43.
4.
Henry K. Watanabe and Peter S. Jensen, ‘‘Young Children’s Adaptation to a Military Lifestyle,’’ in The Military Family: A Practice Guide for Human Service Providers, ed. James A. Martin, Leora N. Rosen, and Linette R. Sparacino (Westport, CT: Praeger , 2000), 209-24, 209.
5.
E.g., Peter S. Jensen, Stephen N. Xenakis, Perry Wolf, and Michael W. Bain, ‘‘The ‘Military Family Syndrome’ Revisited: ‘By the Numbers,’’’Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease179, 2 (1991): 102-7; Nancy A. Ryan-Wenger, ‘‘Impact of the Threat of War on Children in Military Families,’’Journal of Pediatric Health Care16 ( 2002): 245-52; and Stephen J. Cozza , Ryo S. Chun, and James A. Polo, ‘‘Military Families and Children during Operation Iraqi Freedom,’’Psychiatric Quarterly76, 4 (2005): 371-78.
6.
Cozza, Chun, and Polo , ‘‘Military Families.’’
7.
Ibid., 372.
8.
E.g., Molinda M. Chartrand, Deborah A. Frank, Laura F. White, and Timothy R. Shope, ‘‘Effect of Parents’ Wartime Deployment on the Behavior of Young Children in Military Families,’’Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine162, 11 (2008): 1009-14; and Henry K. Watanabe, ‘‘A Survey of Adolescent Military Family Members’ Self Image,’’Journal of Youth and Adolescence14, 2 (1985): 99-107.
9.
Marilyn Ihinger-Tallman , ‘‘Member Adjustment in Single Parent Families: Theory Building,’’ Family Relations35, 1 ( 1986): 215-21.
10.
Ibid.
11.
Travis A. Fritsch and John D. Burkhead, ‘‘Behavioral Reactions of Children to Parental Absence Due to Imprisonment,’’Family Relations30 (1981): 83-88.
12.
Ariela Lowenstein , ‘‘Temporary Single Parenthood-The Case of Prisoners’ Families,’’Family Relations35 (1986): 79-85.
13.
Joyce A. Arditti, Jennifer Lambert-Shute, and Karen Joest, ‘‘Saturday Morning at the Jail: Implications of Incarceration for Families and Children,’’Family Relations52 ( 2004): 195.
14.
Bradford Booth , Mady W. Segal, D. Bruce Bell, James A. Martin, Morten G. Ender, David E. Rohall, and John Nelson, ‘‘What We Know about Army Families: 2007 Update’’ (ICF and U.S. Army Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation, 2007 ), chap. 5.
15.
In this study, work-family conflict refers to the degree to which spouses feel that military job demands interfere with family life.
16.
Maternal well-being refers to the well-being of the parent at home, who were all female in this study.
17.
Lorna McKee , Natasha Mauthner, and John Galilee, ‘‘Children’s Perspectives on Middle-Class Work-Family Arrangements,’’ in Children and the Changing Family: Between Transformation and Negotiation, ed. An-Magritt Jensen and Lorna McKee (London: Routledge Falmer, 2003), 27-45.
18.
Ibid., 33.
19.
Mady W. Segal, ‘‘The Military and the Family as Greedy Institutions,’’Armed Forces & Society13 (1986): 9-38.
20.
A literature review is provided by Tara Galovski and Judith A. Lyons, ‘‘Psychological Sequelae of Combat Violence: A Review of the Impact of PTSD on the Veteran’s Family and Possible Interventions,’’Aggression and Violent Behavior9 (2004): 477-501.
21.
E.g., Hamilton I. McCubbin and Barbara B. Dahl, ‘‘Prolonged Family Separation in the Military: A Longitudinal Study,’’ in Families in the Military System, ed. Hamilton I. McCubbin, Barbara B. Dahl, and Edna J. Hunter (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1976), 112-44; Barbara B. Dahl, Hamilton I. McCubbin, and Gary R. Lester, ‘‘War Induced Father Absence: Comparing the Adjustment of Children in Reunited, Non-reunited and Reconstituted Families,’’International Journal of Sociology of the Family6 (1976): 99-108.
22.
Elizabeth D. Hillenbrand, ‘‘Father Absence in Military Families,’’Family Coordinator25, 4 (1976): 451-58; Chok C. Hiew, ‘‘Separated by Their Work: Families with Fathers Living Apart,’’Environment and Behavior24, 2 (1992): 206-25; Leora N. Rosen, Joel M. Teitelbaum, and David Westhuis, ‘‘Children’s Reactions to the Desert Storm Deployment: Initial Findings from a Survey of Army Families,’’Military Medicine158 (1993): 465-69; René Moelker and Irene E. van der Kloet, ‘‘Partneronderzoek. Wat partners vinden van de uitzending van hun militair’’ [Partner Research. How Partners Feel about the Deployment of Their Soldier] (Research report 00-28, GW, Den Haag, 2002); and Anita Chandra, Rachel M. Burns, Terri Tanielian, Lisa H. Jaycox, and Molly M. Scott , ‘‘Understanding the Impact of Deployment on Children and Families: Findings from a Pilot Study of Operation Purple Camp Participants’’ (Working Paper WR-566, RAND Center for Military Health Policy Research, 2008).
23.
Joshua D. Angrist and John H. Johnson, ‘‘Effects of Work-Related Absence on Families: Evidence from the Gulf War,’’Industrial and Labor Relations Review54 ( 2000): 41-58.
24.
Larry W. Applewhite and Robert A. Mays, ‘‘Parent-Child Separation: A Comparison of Maternally and Paternally Separated Children in Military Families,’’Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal13 (1996): 37.
25.
Hillenbrand, ‘‘Father Absence’’; and Peter S. Jensen, David Martin, and Henry Watanabe, ‘‘Children’s Responses to Parental Separation during Operation Desert Storm,’’Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry35 (1996): 433-41.
26.
Booth et al., ‘‘What We Know,’’ 100.
27.
Chartrand et al., ‘‘Effect of Parents’ Wartime Deployment.’’
28.
Jensen, Martin , and Watanabe, ‘‘Children’s Responses’’; Michelle L. Kelley, Ellen Hock, Kathleen M. Smith, Melinda S. Jarvis, Jennifer F. Bonney, and Monica A. Gaffney , ‘‘Internalizing and Externalizing Behavior of Children with Enlisted Navy Mothers Experiencing Military-Induced Separation,’’Journal of American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry40 (2001 ): 464-71.
29.
Moelker and van der Kloet, ‘‘Partneronderzoek’’; and Angela J. Huebner and Jay A. Mancini, ‘‘Adjustment among Adolescents in Military Families When a Parent Is Deployed’’ (Research report, Military Family Research Institute, Purdue University, 2005).
30.
Booth et al., ‘‘What We Know.’’
31.
Hillenbrand, ‘‘Father Absence’’; Huebner and Mancini , ‘‘Adjustment among Adolescents’’ ; and Chandra et al., ‘‘Understanding the Impact.’’
32.
Chandra et al., ‘‘Understanding the Impact.’’
33.
Ibid., 40.
34.
Cale Palmer , ‘‘A Theory of Risk and Resilience Factors in Military Families,’’Military Psychology20 (2008): 205-17.
35.
E.g., Suzanne Wood, Jacquelyn Scarville, and Katharine S. Gravino, ‘‘Waiting Wives: Separation and Reunion among Army Wives,’’ Armed Forces & Society 21 ( 1995): 217-36; Christopher Dandeker, Claire French, Catherine Birtles, and S. Wessely, ‘‘Deployment Experiences of British Army Wives Before, During and After Deployment: Satisfaction with Military Life and Use of Support Networks’’ (conference paper, NATO RTO-MP-HFM-134 Symposium on Human Dimensions in Military Operations, Brussels, 2006); and Lolita M. Burrell, Gary A. Adams, Doris B. Durand, and Carl A. Castro, ‘‘The Impact of Military Lifestyle Demands on Well-Being, Army, and Family Outcomes,’’ Armed Forces & Society 33 (2006): 43-58.
36.
Palmer, ‘‘Theory of Risk.’’
37.
Ibid., 209; and Amy R. Drummet, Marilyn Coleman, and Susan Cable, ‘‘Military Families under Stress: Implications for Family Life Education,’’Family Relations52, 3 (2003): 279-87.
38.
Michelle L. Kelley, ‘‘Military-Induced Separation in Relation to Maternal Adjustment and Children’s Behaviors,’’Military Psychology6, 3 (1994): 163-76, 172.
39.
Vormbrock, ‘‘Attachment Theory’’; and Shannon J. Johnson, Michelle D. Sherman, Jeanne S. Hoffman, Larry C. James, Patti L. Johnson, John E. Lochman, Thomas N. Magee, and David Riggs, ‘‘The Psychological Needs of U.S. Military Service Members and Their Families: A Preliminary Report’’ (American Psychological Association, Presidential Task Force on Military Deployment Services for Youth, Families and Service Members, 2007), http://www.ptsd.ne.gov/publications/military-deployment-task-force-report.pdf .
40.
Moelker and van der Kloet, ‘‘Partneronderzoek’’ ; and Chandra et al., ‘‘Understanding the Impact.’’
41.
Dennis K. Orthner and Roderick Rose, ‘‘SAF V Survey Report: Adjustment of Army Children to Deployment Separations’’ ( Prepared for the U.S. Army Community and Family Support Center, University of North Carolina, 2005).
42.
Vormbrock, ‘‘Attachment Theory.’’
43.
The questionnaire for service members at the second data wave (i.e., during the deployment) was sent to the mission area. As we were not able to locate all the service members in the mission area, the number of service members included in the sample frame at time 2 was slightly less than the number of partners (also see Table 1).
44.
Reasons included the following: one refused to participate in the study and had announced that to us, the envelope was misdirected, the deployment was cancelled or delayed, both partners were deployed, or the relationship was ended just before the deployment.
45.
Of the 120 interviews, 65 interviews were conducted before departure, 31 during the separation, and 24 afterward.
46.
Preliminary analyses revealed that employment status of the mother did not have an effect on children’s adjustment difficulties during the separation or upon reunion.
47.
There were no significant differences in adjustment difficulties (during the separation or upon reunion) among children of enlisted men, noncommissioned officers, or officers.
48.
As the number of deployments experienced by the service member or the spouse may not be identical to the number of separations experienced by the children, this variable was excluded from this article.
49.
The questionnaires also included a measure of perceived social support, yet as exploratory analyses did not display any relation between mothers’ perceived social support and children’s responses, this variable was excluded from this article.
50.
Blaine J. Fowers and David H. Olson, ‘‘ENRICH Marital Satisfaction Scale: A Brief Research and Clinical Tool,’’Journal of Family Psychology7, 2 (1993): 176-85.
51.
Richard G. Netemeyer, James S. Boles, and Robert McMurrian, ‘‘Development and Validation of Work-Family Conflict and Family-Work Conflict Scales,’’Journal of Applied Psychology81, 4 (1996): 400-410.
52.
Daniel W. Russell, ‘‘UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3): Reliability, Validity, and Factor Structure,’’Journal of Personality Assessment66 ( 1996): 20-40.
53.
Thomas J. Kalliath, Michael P. O’Driscoll, and Paula Brough, ‘‘A Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the General Health Questionnaire-12,’’Stress and Health20 ( 2004): 11-20; David P. Goldberg, ‘‘General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12)’’ ( Windsor, UK: NFER-Nelson, 1992); and Maarten W. Koeter and Johan Ormel, ‘‘General Health Questionnaire. Nederlandse bewerking-Handleiding’’ (Lisse , Netherlands: Swets & Zeitlinger, 1991).
54.
Netemeyer, Boles, and McMurrian, ‘‘Development and Validation.’’
55.
The remaining percentages relate to those respondents who were rather neutral.
56.
Kathleen V. Logan, ‘‘The Emotional Cycle of Deployment,’’Proceedings (Annapolis, MD: U.S. Naval Institute, 1987), 43-47; Mary J. Peebles-Kleiger and James H. Kleiger, ‘‘Re-integration Stress for Desert Storm Families: Wartime Deployments and Family Trauma,’’Journal of Traumatic Stress7, 2 ( 1994): 173-93; and Vormbrock, ‘‘Attachment Theory.’’
57.
Ilse Habraken , ‘‘Kinderen van militairen op uitzending ... probleemjongeren?’’[Children of Deployed Military Service Members ... Problem Youngsters?] (master’s thesis, Netherlands Defense Academy, 2008).
58.
Booth et al., ‘‘What We Know.’’
59.
Skype is a means to communicate for free through voice and video calls and instant messages, which usually take place on computers; MSN Messenger is Microsoft’s free chat program (now called Windows Live Messenger).
60.
Matched data have been used to examine changes over time.
61.
The percentages do not add up to 100 percent as a result of rounding.
62.
Matched data have been used.
63.
E.g., Mina Westman, ‘‘Stress and Strain Crossover,’’Human Relations54, 6 (2001): 717-51.
64.
Without statistically controlling for the age of the youngest child and the number of children at home, maternal well-being at time 1 significantly explained another 8 percent of the variance in children’s adjustment difficulties at time 2.
65.
Excluding the control variables from the model, a significant relation was displayed (β = .22, p < .01) and a trend was discernable toward higher levels of work-family conflict associated with higher levels of adjustment difficulties.
66.
Excluding the control variables from the model, this trend was also visible, just as a trend toward higher levels of work-family conflict associated with higher levels of adjustment difficulties.
67.
Booth et al., ‘‘What We Know.’’
68.
Ibid.
69.
Penny F. Pierce, Amiram D. Vinokur, and Catherine L. Buck, ‘‘Effects of War-Induced Maternal Separation on Children’s Adjustment during the Gulf War and Two Years Later,’’Journal of Applied Social Psychology28, 14 (1998): 1286-1311.
70.
Ihinger-Tallman, ‘‘Member Adjustment’’; Palmer, ‘‘Theory of Risk’’; Lowenstein, ‘‘Temporary Single Parenthood’’; Arditti, Lambert-Shute, and Joest, ‘‘Saturday Morning at the Jail’’; and McKee, Mauthner, and Galilee, ‘‘Children’s Perspectives.’’
71.
Larry W. Applewhite and David R. Segal, ‘‘Telephone Use by Peacekeeping Troops in the Sinai,’’Armed Forces & Society17 (1990): 117-26; Morten G. Ender, ‘‘G.I. Phone Home: The Use of Telecommunications by the Soldiers of Operation Just Cause,’’Armed Forces & Society21 (1995): 435-53; and Walter R. Schumm, D. Bruce Bell, Morten G. Ender, and Rose E. Rice, ‘‘Expectations, Use and Evaluation of Communication Media among Deployed Peacekeepers,’’Armed Forces & Society30 (2004): 649-62.
72.
Ender, ‘‘G.I. Phone Home’’; and Applewhite and Segal, ‘‘Telephone Use.’’
73.
Ender, ‘‘G.I. Phone Home.’’
74.
Westman, ‘‘Stress and Strain Crossover,’’ 730.
75.
Ibid.
76.
Hillenbrand, ‘‘Father Absence’’; and Jensen, Martin, and Watanabe, ‘‘Children’s Responses.’’
77.
Applewhite and Mays, ‘‘Parent-Child Separation.’’
78.
Fritsch and Burkhead, ‘‘Behavioral Reactions’’; the relevance of parent’s gender and the differences between mother’s and father’s reports have also been demonstrated by Manon Andres and René Moelker, ‘‘Parents’ Voice: The Intergenerational Relationship, Worry, Appraisal of the Deployment, and Support among Parents of Deployed Personnel,’’ in Military Sociology Essays in Honor of Charles C. Moskos, vol. 2, ed. Giuseppe Caforio (in press).
