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 Women
In The Military
Documenting Issues
Related
To Their Service
By Mona P. Ternus, PhD, RN, Lt Col, USAFR
>> Mona Ternus' Bio
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What about the spouses of military women who deploy?
There is not very much known about the effects of deployment
on the spouses/significant others of women who have deployed. Women
in general have a unique role in their families and are often
seen as the family managers. Military mothers' role managing
their families’ long distance is understandably challenging.
The only research about spouses is with military men from
previous conflicts. In the past, although the experiences,
support, and stresses for World War II, Vietnam, and Persian
Gulf veterans vary greatly, for all groups, the stress associated
with combat (or potential combat) predisposed spouses to
depression (e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4). A distinction is not
made between men and women in most of the studies, but until
the current conflict there have not been as great a number
of women who have deployed.
In my current research on military women who are mothers
of adolescents and deployed in military service, many cited
the effect on the remaining spouse and caregivers of the
children, while the woman herself remained engaged in the
household, even while deployed (5). That shouldn't surprise
moms reading this. There were issues related
to communication, support and various living arrangements
for the children while deployed. The role of mother,
changed to some extent with maternal absence, and family
members adapted in different ways. (More to come next
time on these changes!)
It is interesting to note that in current research there
is an increase in child maltreatment during parental combat-related
deployments (6, 7, 8), although the vast majority of the
samples are again male. Even though the number of
females in the sample was relatively small, Gibbs et al.
(2007) noted an exception to this pattern with the rate of
child maltreatment significantly lower among female soldiers
then male soldiers (greater than a 1 to 10 difference!).
They suggested that the difference might be attributed to
how a male spouse experiences and copes with the stress of
a military women’s deployment or mobilizes resources
for childcare during that time. Although not discussed,
it may also be due to the preparation by mothers for their
absence from the family and continued engagement with the
family while deployed. This is certainly an area of
future research in order to support the families of women
veterans, support military women who deploy, and promote
family health.
>> Mona
Ternus Bio
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
References
1. Bey, D. R., & Lange, J. (1974). Wailing wives, women
under stress. American Journal of Psychiatry, 131, 283-286.
2. Hill, R. (1949). Families under stress: Adjustment
to the crises of war separation and reunion. Westport,
CT: Greenwich Press.
3. McCubbin, H. I., Hunter, E. J., & Dahl, B. B. (1975).
Residuals of war: Families of prisoners of war and servicemen
missing in action. Journal of Social Issues, 31, 95-109.
4. Perconte, S. T., Wilson, A. T., Pontius, E. B., Dietrick,
A. L., & Spiro, K. J. (1993). Psychological and war stress
symptoms among deployed and non-deployed reservists following
the Persian Gulf War. Military Medicine, 158, 516-521.
5. Ternus, M. (2007, November). What happens when
Mom leaves and then comes back? The impact of maternal absence
on adolescents and their families due to military deployment. Presentation
at Sigma Theta Tau International 39th Biennial Convention,
Baltimore, MD.
6. Gibbs, D. A., Martin, S. L., Kupper, L. L., & Johnson,
R. E. (2007). Child maltreatment in enlisted soldiers’ families
during combat-related deployments. JAMA, 298(5),
528-535.
7. McCarroll, J. E., Fan, Z., Newby, J. H., & Ursano,
R. J. (In Press). Trends in US Army child maltreatment reports:
1990-2004. Child Abuse Review.
8. Rentz, E. D., Marshall, S. W., Loomis, D., Casteel, C.,
Martin, S. L., & Gibbs, D. A. (2007). Effect of deployment
on the occurrence of child maltreatment in military and nonmilitary
families. American Journal of Epidemiology, 165(10),
1199-1206
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