Citation

Meadows SO, Tanielian T, Karney B, Schell T, Griffin BA, Jaycox LH, Friedman EM, Trail TE, Beckman R, Ramchand R, Hengstebeck N, Troxel WM, Ayer L, Vaughan CA. Rand Health Q. 2017; 6(2): 7.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Rand Corporation)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

28845345

Abstract

In 2009, RAND launched the Deployment Life Study, a longitudinal study of military families across a deployment cycle in order to assess family readiness. Family readiness refers to the state of being prepared to effectively navigate the challenges of daily living experienced in the unique context of military service. The study surveyed families at frequent intervals throughout a complete deployment cycle---before a service member deploys (sometimes months before), during the actual deployment, and after the service member returns (possibly a year or more after she or he redeployed). It assessed a number of outcomes over time, including: the quality of marital and parental relationshipsthe psychological, behavioral, and physical health of family memberschild and teen well-being (e.g., emotional, behavioral, social, and academic)military integration (e.g., attitudes toward military service, retention intentions).This culminating paper briefly reviews the study design and data collection procedures, presents results from analyses of the longitudinal data collected from some 2,700 military families, and offers recommendations for programs and future research related to military families. The research was jointly sponsored by the Office of the Surgeon General, U.S. Army, and by the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury.

Language: en

Keywords

Adolescents; Child Well-Being; Marriage and Divorce; Mental Health and Illness; Military Families; Military Force Deployment; Military Health and Health Care