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Family life during war
Military life and their family
Family life during war
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Family is an exceedingly important part of our everyday lives. Whether we have been reared in traditional family life or not we recognize the importance of growing up in a strong family environment. Being part of a military family is different though with the military families having to face harder situations than those regular families. They are constantly striving to overcome the negative trials as well as deal with their positive incomings. Children are often negatively effected, the significance of building family bonds increases, and the spouse are put through an abundance of stress. The children of military families commonly go through a great deal of negative changes. These types of families are not easy, especially for the kids, who often experience mistreatment. For example, “the rate of child maltreatment increases by 30% for every 1% increase in the number of active duty soldiers who depart or return from combat deployment”(Sogomonyan and Cooper). That is like having at least two families of the ten who are facing deployment increase in maltreatment. While a parent is in deployment, children are at high risk of mental health issues, and are going through one of the most stressful times in their life. Changes that are noticed include, school performance, lashing out in anger, worrying, hiding emotions, disrespecting parents, feeling a sense of loss, and symptoms of depression. The statistic of children in depression is one in four kids who are a part of a military family experience depression.(Sogomanyan & Cooper) This number shows how badly military children are affected by their mother or father’s deployment. Erecting and fortifying bonds between family members is critical to the happiness of a family. When you k... ... middle of paper ... ..., Kristin E. "Over years, nephew fills in blanks of uncle's WWII story." Philly.com. 1 Nov. 2013. 06 Jan. 2014 http://articles.philly.com/2013-11-11/news/43889734_1_south-philadelphia-dutch-town-nephew>. Karney, Benjamin R., and John S. Crown. Families under stress: An assessment of data, the0ry, and research on marriage and divorce in the military. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corp., 2007. Schulte, Brigid. "Strain on military families affects young children, report says." Washington Post. 22 July 2013. The Washington Post. 06 Jan. 2014 . Sogomonyan, Fianna, and Janice L. Cooper. "Trauma Faced by Children of Military Families." NCCP. May 2010. 06 Jan. 2014 .
PBS’ Frontline film “The Wounded Platoon” reviews the effects the Iraq war has had on soldiers as they return home and transition back into civilian life, focusing particularly on the rise in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among American military members from Fort Carson Army base (Edge, 2010). Incidents of PTSD have risen dramatically in the military since the beginning of the Iraq war and military mental health policies and treatment procedures have adapted to manage this increase (Edge, 2010). In “The Wounded Platoon,” many military personnel discuss how PTSD, and other mental health struggles, have been inadequately treated (if at all) by military mental health services. Reasons and Perdue’s definition of a social problem allows us to see inadequate treatment of PTSD among returning United States military members as a social problem because it is a condition affecting a significant number of people in undesirable ways that can be remedied through collective action (Reasons & Perdue, 1981).
Source (Please attach copy of article): Burns, B., Grindlay, K., Holt, K., Manski, R., & Grossman, D. (2014). Military sexual trauma among US servicewomen during deployment: A qualitative study. American Journal of Public Health, 104(2), 345-349. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1499845673?accountid=12387
The relationship between the soldiers of the Vietnam War was different from the relationships with people from home. The soldiers felt as if they could not tell the whole truth about the war through their eyes to their loved ones at home. The soldiers that they were with all the time understood the pain and confusion each other felt, yet no one talked about it. War changed how people had relationships with others. War could bring people closer or tear them apart.
...manifest developmental, behavioral, and emotional problems. This implies the interpersonal nature of trauma and may explain the influence of veteran Posttraumatic Stress Disorder on the child’s development and eventual, long-term and long-lasting consequences for the child’s personality. (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2525831).
Research from Psychiatric Effects of Military Deployment on Children and Families indicates; “Deployments for military members in the United States have increased in both frequency and length over the past 10 years. As a result of these deployments, many children from military families have experienced absences of one or both parents. More than two million United States children have been affected directly by a parent’s deployment. The evidence is clear that deployments are stressful on families and that children can be affected by these
Military children are in a league of their own, and at very young ages are thrown into situations of great stress. Approximately 1.2 million children live in the U.S. Military families (Kelly. 2003) and at least 700,000 of them have had at least one parent deployed (Johnson et al. 2007). Every child handles a deployment differently, some may regress in potty training, and others may become extremely aggressive. Many different things can happen, in most cases when a parent deploys and the child becomes difficult to handle, it can cause a massive amount of stress on the parent that is not deployed as well as added stress on the parent who is deployed. There are three stages of a deployment, pre-deployment, deployment, and reintegration, being educated on these three things can make a deployment “run” smoothly for the entire family.
PTSD is a mental disorder that comes from suffering from traumatic events. Normally, society has seen it being a war-related disorder. Veterans Healthcare Administration considers PTSD, “medically recognized anxiety disorder that occurs in normal individuals under extremely stressful conditions” (3). Sufferers of PTSD can also be children as traumatic events like natural disasters, abuse, and many other events in which people of any age still struggle to cope with becomes a life-long uphill battle to get over. Even for myself, I suffer from PTSD, and I do not look for sympathy from my audience, but for others to second-handedly understand towards not just the children, but all sufferers of PTSD.
A family’s dynamics is the core or base on which one defines ideas about family. Numerous things impact family dynamics, for instance: birth order, spiritually, change, personalities, race, and sexual orientation. When one is determining a family’s dynamic they must look at the big picture to fully grasp what makes a family the way they are. One cannot truly understand the family dynamics of someone until they put themselves in their shoes. “That Evening Sun Go Down”, “Soldier’s Home”, and “A Good Man is Hard to Find” contain family dynamics that help to shape and mold each story. These pieces of literature depict family dynamics, but are found on their own unique foundation. “That Evening Sun Go Down” is found on the dynamics of racism
1991 researched whether or not military connected children suffered from higher levels of psychiatric symptoms, and whether they display more externalizing or internalizing disorders. They also sought to learn whether the same stressors that effect children also effect their parents. Additionally they sought to understand the different impacts different levels of service (whether an officer or enlisted soldier) had on the family. 213 children and their families were surveyed by mail using psychopathology rating scales. The reports of teachers and children were highly similar to national averages, however parents rated their children and themselves as having slightly higher levels of psychiatric symptoms. This study found that the rates of psychiatric symptoms were not greatly increased in children in military families, and provided no evidence of a military family syndrome. This study was limited by its heavy reliance on self report. This study is helpful in showing that there might not be as many negatives to being military connected as we might think and will help balance some of the other
...negatively affect a trauma survivor’s ability to maintain relationships with family members (Schwerdtfeger & Goff, 2007). The research in this area suggests that traumatized adults may be emotionally or functionally (or both) unavailable for their infant, increasing the likelihood of enhanced symptomatology within the child. Parents with a trauma history may “pass on” their trauma symptoms or reactions to their children, either through the children’s direct exposure to the parents’ symptoms or through the parents’ potentially traumatizing (e.g., abusive) behavior. Additionally, depression, anxiety, psychosomatic problems, aggression, guilt, and related issues may be common in the children of trauma survivors. These findings suggest the complexity of understanding the effects of trauma that may impact family members across generations (Schwerdtfeger & Goff, 2007).
During military service, I experienced domestic violence for a minimum of nine years while being married to another military service member. In January of 1988 during military service and marriage, I also gave birth to my second son, who died three day after being born. Although many people may find themselves in complicated situations, I never thought that I would be one of those individuals. During this period of fear, pain, and sadness, I dealt with the situation the best I knew how, because I had military responsibilities, parent responsibilities to my first born son who was six years old at the time, and while still trying to keep my family together. I quickly found other means of managing my experience with both situations by convincing
"the wife may experience symptoms of depression, anxiety, guilt, and distressing dreams" (Dekel 25). These symptoms come as a result to the continuous ambiguity the wives feel regarding the loss of their partner as they used to be. Secondary traumatization can also be seen in the children of active military personnel and veterans. In the same article published inFamily Relations, a mother described how her children were being affected by stating that, "Some of ...
Military wives are perceived as stay at home moms that sit at home all day and take care of the kids. My views on the wives of soldiers is that they are pretty much single parents while their husbands are deployed. The wives are expected to keep the house up and running by doing the housework, cooking, cleaning and caring for the children. People on the outside looking in may think that all of the wives are unemployed and living off of their husbands. The wives are forced to deal with all the duties that, are they are supposed to share as a couple. In situations like this the wife may feel extremely overwhelmed, but the additional workload along with the work that she was doing before their husband was deployed. The conduction
According to Mental Health Professional Michelle Blessing, “there is no right or wrong answers when it comes to what is the best type of family structure. As long as a family is filled with love and support for one another, it tends to be successful and thrive. Families need to do what is best for each other and themselves, and that can be achieved in almost any unit” (Blessing). Families offer companionship, security, and a measure of protection against an often uncaring world, but family structure has undergone significant changes since World War II. Variations in family structure are now plentiful -- and yet often still quite successful. Whatever the family situation, whatever the familial structure, it will have tremendous and unique influence upon the child’s happiness, development, and future.
"Family is not an important thing. It's everything.” This remarkable quote by Michel J. Fox should be the definition of family. Family is everything, they are our motivation, the ones that will love us when others don’t, and are the ones who stick to each other as gum when times get tough. Families have the most robust connections alive. These ties are so solid, and deeply intact that they can do everything and anything. These links allow a family to influence, shape, impact, and change one’s life. The intimacy within the family sphere, shape all who are inside it, this cannot be changed, and well anything that comes from within the family cannot be changed. The family itself can control and change our views on society, influence how we view the family unit, and yet most of all impact our everyday choices. The family’s capacity of guidance can make such an abundant shift that can only be felt, and barely visible unless seen through strained eyes, that makes this connection even more inexplicable than love.