Parental depression linked to other problems in family and child adjustment in military .... based information on families and children hold promise, several being ...
Family and Children’s Functioning E. Mark Cummings University of Notre Dame
Overview • Multiple aspects of family may be affected by experiences of parent’s deployment, injury or death • Research on children of military families begins to implicate effects on children’s functioning • Research on civilian children provides further foundation for understanding conceptual and empirical relations between these factors
Outline • Necessarily selective review of some of the family processes implicated by research on military families • Briefly review findings for military children • Present model or framework for effects on children, briefly review findings based on civilian studies, including example studies • Present recent research studies to illustrate stateof-art methodologically and new results • Identify gaps and future directions
Topics Military context may affect certain family and child processes Before, during or after deployment or due to injury or death 1. Parental depression 2. Interparental conflict 3. Briefly introduce: Prevention for military families based on psycho-education, Translating child development science
Exemplars of supporting research and reviews on military families: Card et al., 2011; Chandra et al., 2011, Chartrand et al., 2008; Esposito‐Smythers et al., 2011; Faber et al., 2008; Flake et al., 2009; Karney & Crown, 2011; Knobloch & Theiss, 2011; Lester et al., 2011; Morris & Age, 2009; Nelson Goff et al., 2007; Renshaw et al., 2008; Riggs & Riggs, 2011; Willerton et al., 2011; Lyle, 2006
Parents Mental Health • Parental depression a specific problem linked to stresses of deployment, for both military and non-military spouse • Parental depression linked to other problems in family and child adjustment in military families • Need to know more about how, why and when parental depressive symptoms relate to child adjustment in military families, to understand who is at most risk and how to help children and families at risk. Supporting citations: Cohen et al., 2011; Fiedler et al., 2006; Jacobson et al., 2008; Knobloch & Theiss, 2011; Lester et al, 2010; Nelson Goff et al., 2007; Renshaw et al., 2008; Sayers et al., 2009
Scientific Study of Parental Depression and Children’s Functioning • Children of depressed parents are two to six times more likely to develop adjustment problems. However, risk depends on multiple factors. • Next slide: Framework presented of familial effects identified based on scientific study of parental depression and children.
Supporting citations: Cummings et al., 2000; Cummings, Keller, & Davies, 2005
Research-Based Framework on Effects of Parental Depression on Children
Identifying Risk Factors Associated with Parental Depression • Risk for children of depressed parents depends on family factors and child psychological processes affected • In order to effectively understand risk need for high quality study of child and family factors, including military family contexts • Next slide: an example of recent scientific study that identifies attachment security between parents and conflict between parents as explanatory processes
Example of Scientific Study of Explanatory Processes • 235 families-Mothers, Fathers, and Children • Family and Child Variables – Parental Depressive Symptoms – Child Adjustment – Marital Functioning • Marital Conflict • Interparental Attachment
Next two slides: Both Father and Mother Depression were related to Child Adjustment as a Function of the Marital Relationship Supporting citation: Cummings, Keller and Davies (2005)
Test of Family Process Model: Paternal Depression
Test of Family Process Model: Maternal Depression
Implications for Family and Children’s Functioning in Military Families • Example of evidence: Supports sophisticated model tests needed to understand relations between parental depression and child adjustment in military families • By contrast: Correlational studies may be minimally informative because of complex interrelations between factors • Essential to examine in military families, because specific conditions of military deployment likely to be influential to effects on children Supporting Citation: Riggs & Riggs, 2011
Marital Conflict and Children’s Adjustment • Deployment, injury and death linked with increased marital conflict and marital problems in military families • Some evidence of negative effects on children, but research is limited • Effects may be linked with multiple points in the deployment cycle Exemplars of supporting research and theory on military families: Allen et al., 2010; Card et al., 2011; Chandra et al., 2011, Chartrand et al., 2008; Erbes, 2011; Esposito‐ Smythers et al., 2011; Faber et al., 2008; Flake et al., 2009; Karney & Crown, 2011; Knobloch & Theiss, 2011; Lester et al., 2011; Morris & Age, 2009; Nelson Goff et al., 2007; Renshaw et al., 2008; Riggs & Riggs, 2011; Willerton et al., 2011; Lyle, 2006
Marital Conflict and Child Adjustment • Marital conflict has long been linked with children’s adjustment problems • Marital conflict also linked with the impact of depression, abuse, maltreatment and alcohol problems on children
Supporting citations: Cummings & Davies, 1994, 2002, 2010
Other facts about Marital Conflict • Marital conflict linked with broader family patterns of well-functioning or dysfunctional family and sibling relationships • Links with children’s functioning and adjustment from early infancy to late adolescence, similar risks for boys and girls
Emotional Security Theory • An integrative process model for multiple family factors on child adjustment, including parental depression and marital conflict • Assessed in terms of multiple responses (emotional, cognitive, behavioral, physiological regulatory processes) • Extension of attachment theory for a family-wide model for role of emotional security in child functioning Supporting citations: Cummings & Davies, 1994, 2010; Davies et al., 2002; Waters & Cummings, 2000
Emotional Security Security about family relations are a bridge between the child and the world
Marital Conflict, Family Functioning and Child Adjustment
• Extensive research implicates multiple family factors are affected • Next slide is based on a review which implicates these pathways • Following slides after that, a recent study which Illustrates evidence of long-term relations between marital conflict, emotional security and child adjustment Supporting citation: Cummings and Davies, 2002
Research-Based Framework on Effects of Marital Conflict on Children
Supporting citation: Cummings & Davies, 2002
Longitudinal Study of Marital Conflict, Emotional Security and Child Adjustment
• Mothers, Fathers, and Children Participated – Time 1: Kindergarten – Time 2: Second grade – Time 3: Seventh grade
Links between Interparental Conflict, Children’s Emotional Security, and Child adjustment assessed
Supporting citation: Cummings, George, McCoy & Davies, in press
Test of Relations between Marital Conflict, Emotional Security, and Child Adjustment
Implications for Family and Children’s Functioning in Military Families Programs to help military families based on scientificallybased information on families and children hold promise, several being tested • Psycho-Educational Programs may be especially appealing for military families, based on this literature • Programs may be applied for prevention rather than clinical treatment, which may also be appealing • Important to evaluate programs: Randomized clinical trial (RCT) designs and rigorous assessment, with long-term follow-ups essential
Psycho-Educational Programs: Based on Research on Family on Children’s Functioning
• Brief programs that translate research on family functioning and children may be most appealing and effective. • Several recent exemplars of programs for civilian families and children; suggest promise of approach • Gaps are programs for military families based on research on families and children – E.g., couple programs typically based on adult research with limited empirical bases in child development research. Supporting citations: Allen et al., 2010; Heyman et al., 2011, Lester et al., 2011
Implications for Family and Children’s Functioning in Military Families • Research – Need sophisticated studies that document multiple influences and their interrelations in children of military families – Need to incorporate in study specific role of military contexts, for example, effects of different aspects of cycle of deployment
• Practice – Translate well-established findings on families and children into programs for military families and rigorously evaluate program efficacy
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