Staff Perspective: Growing Stronger Together
Military-connected children often demonstrate remarkable strength and resilience, thriving through many changes and transitions. However, they also belong to a population that experiences unique stressors such as frequent relocations, long separations from extended family, and having to adjust to new schools and environments repeatedly. While this lifestyle brings opportunities, such as exposure to diverse cultures and friendships around the world, it also may pose some challenges like disrupted routines, interrupted education, emotional strain, and family stress.
Fortunately, many military families benefit from important protective factors such as stable housing, secured medical care, access to various community services, and greater financial security than their civilian peers. These supports help sustain family well-being. While many families do well, others may need more support to thrive. Some struggle due to individual temperament, pre-existing mental health conditions, or the breakdown in continuity of services as families move from one location to another. These challenges may be further intensified by stressors such as deployments, family separations, and the ongoing demands of military life.
Research has provided a clearer understanding of how military life may affect children and families. Studies indicate increases in emotional distress, behavioral issues, use of mental health services, family conflict, and even instances of child maltreatment. A child’s well-being is often closely tied to how well their parents are coping. For the service member, the transition home after combat, especially when trauma-related challenges like PTSD are present, can be difficult and may affect family dynamics and emotional closeness. Spouses may also be experiencing struggles with their own mental health, due to their children possibly experiencing more emotional and behavioral issues during deployments or living away from support systems.
Parental responses play a crucial role in shaping a child’s emotional and behavioral health. Parents under extreme stress may unintentionally overreact to typical developmental behaviors, like toddler tantrums or teenage defiance, which can heighten tension and lead to negative outcomes. Providing comprehensive, ongoing support to parents is essential in helping them manage their stress, meet their children's emotional needs, and reduce the risk of harm.
Effective support for military-connected children starts with empowering their parents. For some, this may involve rebuilding emotional connections with their children after a deployment or learning strategies to better manage challenging behaviors that may arise while a spouse is away or during times of transition. For others, it may include gaining confidence in handling difficult behaviors or learning to parent effectively despite a physical or emotional injury. Most military families are doing well, still they need interventions that are matched to their unique experiences and challenges.
Encouraging military families to seek help is vital. We must improve access to services that build resilience and promote healthy family functioning. Both preventive resources and therapeutic interventions are critical. One evidence-based program, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), has shown positive outcomes in reducing parenting stress, child behavior problems, trauma symptoms, and the potential to prevent child maltreatment.
PCIT is a short-term, specialized behavior management program designed for families with young children aged two to seven. It focuses on strengthening the caregiver-child relationship while teaching effective behavior management techniques. Through weekly sessions, a therapist works directly with both the parent and child, helping to reduce stress and improve family dynamics. In recent years, PCIT has been successfully adapted for use with military families.
Some additional programs and interventions specifically adapted for military families can be found on the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) website: https://learn.nctsn.org/course/index.php?categoryid=28.
The Department of Defense Child Collaboration Study is also working to enhance and expand health and behavioral health care for military children through asynchronous training, digital parenting tools, ECHO telementoring, curriculum development, and telehealth support for providers and families. To learn about the Department of Defense Child Collabotation Study, one can can read more here: https://deploymentpsych.org/DoDKidsStudy.
It may also be helpful for parents to receive individual mental health support for disorders such as PTSD, depression, or anxiety that may be impacting their parenting practices. Providers must be proactive in assessing parental needs and connecting them with appropriate treatment options.
Military families continue to show incredible resilience. Through ongoing collaboration between caregivers, service providers, and community organizations, military-connected children can thrive, even during the most difficult life transitions. By offering targeted support and evidence-based care, we can help ensure these families have the tools they need to grow stronger together.
The opinions in CDP Staff Perspective blogs are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Science or the Department of Defense.
Shantel Fernandez Lopez, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist serving as a Military Behavioral Health Child Psychologist at the Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP) at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. In this role, she supports a study focused on the identification and enhancement of evidence-based treatment delivery to youth with neurodevelopmental and behavioral health needs via telehealth and tele-education.
Military-connected children often demonstrate remarkable strength and resilience, thriving through many changes and transitions. However, they also belong to a population that experiences unique stressors such as frequent relocations, long separations from extended family, and having to adjust to new schools and environments repeatedly. While this lifestyle brings opportunities, such as exposure to diverse cultures and friendships around the world, it also may pose some challenges like disrupted routines, interrupted education, emotional strain, and family stress.
Fortunately, many military families benefit from important protective factors such as stable housing, secured medical care, access to various community services, and greater financial security than their civilian peers. These supports help sustain family well-being. While many families do well, others may need more support to thrive. Some struggle due to individual temperament, pre-existing mental health conditions, or the breakdown in continuity of services as families move from one location to another. These challenges may be further intensified by stressors such as deployments, family separations, and the ongoing demands of military life.
Research has provided a clearer understanding of how military life may affect children and families. Studies indicate increases in emotional distress, behavioral issues, use of mental health services, family conflict, and even instances of child maltreatment. A child’s well-being is often closely tied to how well their parents are coping. For the service member, the transition home after combat, especially when trauma-related challenges like PTSD are present, can be difficult and may affect family dynamics and emotional closeness. Spouses may also be experiencing struggles with their own mental health, due to their children possibly experiencing more emotional and behavioral issues during deployments or living away from support systems.
Parental responses play a crucial role in shaping a child’s emotional and behavioral health. Parents under extreme stress may unintentionally overreact to typical developmental behaviors, like toddler tantrums or teenage defiance, which can heighten tension and lead to negative outcomes. Providing comprehensive, ongoing support to parents is essential in helping them manage their stress, meet their children's emotional needs, and reduce the risk of harm.
Effective support for military-connected children starts with empowering their parents. For some, this may involve rebuilding emotional connections with their children after a deployment or learning strategies to better manage challenging behaviors that may arise while a spouse is away or during times of transition. For others, it may include gaining confidence in handling difficult behaviors or learning to parent effectively despite a physical or emotional injury. Most military families are doing well, still they need interventions that are matched to their unique experiences and challenges.
Encouraging military families to seek help is vital. We must improve access to services that build resilience and promote healthy family functioning. Both preventive resources and therapeutic interventions are critical. One evidence-based program, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), has shown positive outcomes in reducing parenting stress, child behavior problems, trauma symptoms, and the potential to prevent child maltreatment.
PCIT is a short-term, specialized behavior management program designed for families with young children aged two to seven. It focuses on strengthening the caregiver-child relationship while teaching effective behavior management techniques. Through weekly sessions, a therapist works directly with both the parent and child, helping to reduce stress and improve family dynamics. In recent years, PCIT has been successfully adapted for use with military families.
Some additional programs and interventions specifically adapted for military families can be found on the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) website: https://learn.nctsn.org/course/index.php?categoryid=28.
The Department of Defense Child Collaboration Study is also working to enhance and expand health and behavioral health care for military children through asynchronous training, digital parenting tools, ECHO telementoring, curriculum development, and telehealth support for providers and families. To learn about the Department of Defense Child Collabotation Study, one can can read more here: https://deploymentpsych.org/DoDKidsStudy.
It may also be helpful for parents to receive individual mental health support for disorders such as PTSD, depression, or anxiety that may be impacting their parenting practices. Providers must be proactive in assessing parental needs and connecting them with appropriate treatment options.
Military families continue to show incredible resilience. Through ongoing collaboration between caregivers, service providers, and community organizations, military-connected children can thrive, even during the most difficult life transitions. By offering targeted support and evidence-based care, we can help ensure these families have the tools they need to grow stronger together.
The opinions in CDP Staff Perspective blogs are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Science or the Department of Defense.
Shantel Fernandez Lopez, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist serving as a Military Behavioral Health Child Psychologist at the Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP) at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. In this role, she supports a study focused on the identification and enhancement of evidence-based treatment delivery to youth with neurodevelopmental and behavioral health needs via telehealth and tele-education.