Staff Perspective: Review of the Future of Children’s Fall 2013 issue
Since President Obama declared November 2013 to be Military Families Month, it seemed appropriate to write about military families. My professional interest in military families began when I married my active duty Navy husband in 2005. When I did my first literature review on military families, I was quite surprised by the size of the body of literature, much of which was quite outdated. While the research literature on military families and children is still limited, it has grown significantly since then.
This past October, The Future of Children’s fall issue was released, entitled “Keeping the Promise: Maintaining the Health of Military and Veteran Families and Children.” The Future of Children is a collaboration between the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the Brookings Institute. They publish two journals each year, and this fall’s issue consists of a collection of nine articles (which are referred to as chapters by the issue’s editors), the authors of which represent a wealth of military and civilian expertise.
In the first chapter, “The Demographics of Military Children and Families,” the authors highlight that there is actually a striking diversity within the military community, emphasizing the need for flexible and adaptive support programs reflecting the complexity of these families. The second chapter, “Economic Conditions of Military Families,” provides an overview of the economic conditions of military families. The authors note that while the economic circumstances of these families have improved over the past decade, military spouses continue to experience a variety of challenges in regards to career progression and opportunities.
The next two chapters, “Military Children from Birth to Five Years” and “Child Care and Other Support Programs,” focus on young children. As we know, many military families are very young, and nearly half of military children are under the age of five. While there is little research specifically focused on how the stresses of military life affect these children, these authors make inferences from research in other contexts that reinforce the importance of helping caregivers with young children cope with the stressors in their lives.
The fifth chapter, “Resilience among Military Youth” looks at resiliency in this population, something that is often overlooked in a literature that focuses largely on stressors and deficits. These authors highlight that as a group, military children are generally resilient, noting that military life can enhance children’s sense of community and their cultural competence. In contrast, the next two chapters, “How Wartime Military Service Affects Children and Families” and “When a Parent is Injured or Killed in Combat,” focus on some of the unique risks and challenges inherent in military life.
The last two chapters in the issue, “Building Communities of Care for Military Children and Families” and “Unlocking Insights about Military Children and Families” work to tie together some of the emerging themes. Some of the highlights include the importance of programs that interact with parents and children across a variety of settings (e.g., health care, schools, youth organizations, etc.) and of making sure we collect more and better data about military children and families.
I was excited when I first heard about this issue of The Future of Children, knowing that it aimed to expand our knowledge and understanding of risks and strengths of military families and children. Now having had the opportunity to read through most of the chapters, I find that it is, in fact, a valuable addition to the military family literature. It pulls together both what we know and what we still don’t know about the strengths of military families and the challenges they face.
“Keeping the Promise: Maintaining the Health of Military and Veteran Families and Children” can be accessed online at: http://futureofchildren.org/futureofchildren/publications/journals/journal_details/index.xml?journalid=80
Dr. Marjorie Weinstock is a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy trainer at the Center for Deployment Psychology and a subject matter expert on deployment-related behavioral health issues and the impact of military life on families.
Since President Obama declared November 2013 to be Military Families Month, it seemed appropriate to write about military families. My professional interest in military families began when I married my active duty Navy husband in 2005. When I did my first literature review on military families, I was quite surprised by the size of the body of literature, much of which was quite outdated. While the research literature on military families and children is still limited, it has grown significantly since then.
This past October, The Future of Children’s fall issue was released, entitled “Keeping the Promise: Maintaining the Health of Military and Veteran Families and Children.” The Future of Children is a collaboration between the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the Brookings Institute. They publish two journals each year, and this fall’s issue consists of a collection of nine articles (which are referred to as chapters by the issue’s editors), the authors of which represent a wealth of military and civilian expertise.
In the first chapter, “The Demographics of Military Children and Families,” the authors highlight that there is actually a striking diversity within the military community, emphasizing the need for flexible and adaptive support programs reflecting the complexity of these families. The second chapter, “Economic Conditions of Military Families,” provides an overview of the economic conditions of military families. The authors note that while the economic circumstances of these families have improved over the past decade, military spouses continue to experience a variety of challenges in regards to career progression and opportunities.
The next two chapters, “Military Children from Birth to Five Years” and “Child Care and Other Support Programs,” focus on young children. As we know, many military families are very young, and nearly half of military children are under the age of five. While there is little research specifically focused on how the stresses of military life affect these children, these authors make inferences from research in other contexts that reinforce the importance of helping caregivers with young children cope with the stressors in their lives.
The fifth chapter, “Resilience among Military Youth” looks at resiliency in this population, something that is often overlooked in a literature that focuses largely on stressors and deficits. These authors highlight that as a group, military children are generally resilient, noting that military life can enhance children’s sense of community and their cultural competence. In contrast, the next two chapters, “How Wartime Military Service Affects Children and Families” and “When a Parent is Injured or Killed in Combat,” focus on some of the unique risks and challenges inherent in military life.
The last two chapters in the issue, “Building Communities of Care for Military Children and Families” and “Unlocking Insights about Military Children and Families” work to tie together some of the emerging themes. Some of the highlights include the importance of programs that interact with parents and children across a variety of settings (e.g., health care, schools, youth organizations, etc.) and of making sure we collect more and better data about military children and families.
I was excited when I first heard about this issue of The Future of Children, knowing that it aimed to expand our knowledge and understanding of risks and strengths of military families and children. Now having had the opportunity to read through most of the chapters, I find that it is, in fact, a valuable addition to the military family literature. It pulls together both what we know and what we still don’t know about the strengths of military families and the challenges they face.
“Keeping the Promise: Maintaining the Health of Military and Veteran Families and Children” can be accessed online at: http://futureofchildren.org/futureofchildren/publications/journals/journal_details/index.xml?journalid=80
Dr. Marjorie Weinstock is a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy trainer at the Center for Deployment Psychology and a subject matter expert on deployment-related behavioral health issues and the impact of military life on families.