Citation

McCormack L, Hogan M, Devine W. Traumatology 2022; 28(1): 1-10.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Green Cross Academy of Traumatology, Publisher APA Journals)

DOI

10.1037/trm0000298

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Children of veterans commonly join the armed forces, yet little research explores transgenerational exposure to combat trauma. This ideographic study sought positive and negative interpretations from veterans exposed vicariously as children to combat related trauma and primarily as personnel deployed to combat. Semistructured interviews provided the data for transcription and analysis using interpretative phenomenological analysis. One overarching superordinate theme, military family, moral dilemmas, reclaiming self, highlights a layered struggle for autonomy from a fractured relationship with a veteran father, the lack of preparedness for moral confrontation in combat from the larger military family, and a sense of betrayal from both father and organization in reconnecting with civilian life. Despite intermittent opportunities for shared connections between father and son, their fathers' resistance to sharing personal combat narratives brought distance and resentment. This was compounded by perceived organizational betrayal, where participants felt morally unprepared for the "cultural" threats of war. Feelings of shame and moral injury plagued "self" post service; however, purpose and meaning were expressed as a desire to parent differently from their own fathers. Importantly, though results are not generalizable, this study highlights the importance of postdeployment family education to reduce potential self-blame and self-doubt in male children of veterans exposed vicariously to the toxic masculinity of disengaged and brutal parenting styles following combat trauma. Second, this study reveals the importance of postdeployment reintegration training for restoration of moral integrity in life after the military. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Language: en