Parental military service and adolescent well‐being: mental health,social connections and coping among youth in the USA |
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| Authors: | Mallory Lucier‐Greer Amy Laura Arnold Rebecca Neilann Grimsley James L Ford Chalandra Bryant Jay A Mancini |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Family and Child Sciences, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA;2. Department of Human Development and Family Science, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA |
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| Abstract: | The association between parental military work factors and adolescent's well‐being was examined. Data were collected from 1036 military youth. Using a within‐group design, we examined adolescent's well‐being related to parental absence, school and neighbourhood transitions, paygrade/rank and participation in military‐sponsored activities, and differentiated outcomes by sex and age. Two parental work factors primarily influenced adolescent's well‐being, parental paygrade/rank and engagement in military‐sponsored activities. Parental paygrade/rank was the only factor uniformly related to poorer well‐being, and this variable likely represents a more complex set of family circumstances. Engaging in military‐sponsored activities served as a resource and was related to enhanced well‐being. Individual‐level differences and implications for social workers are discussed. |
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| Keywords: | adolescents military families resilience USA vulnerabilities |
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