Manon Andres

There and Back Again: How Parental Experiences Affect Children's Adjustments in the Course of Military Deployments

As a consequence of various causes, numerous children are confronted with parental separation. By following families in the course of military deployments, this study aimed at enhancing knowledge on temporary father—child separation. Data were part of a longitudinal study of military families and were collected among Dutch service members and their partners before, during, and after a deployment to Bosnia or Afghanistan. Results revealed that the great majority of the children adapted quite well to the separation and reunion. Furthermore, the general well-being of the children, the mothers, and the fathers in the mission area was positively related. Unlike separation characteristics, maternal well-being was predictive of children’s adjustment in the course of paternal deployment. Hence, the findings underline the importance of helping spouses cope with the absences of service members as it increases the chances that children will also be doing well in the course of parental absence.

A longitudinal study of partners of deployed personnel from the Netherlands’ armed forces

We examined the longitudinal relationships among work–family conflict, general life stress, social isolation, and psychological distress of partners of deployed military personnel. Regression analyses revealed that psychological distress experienced in early stages of deployment predicted psychological distress at later stages of deployment. After controlling for the effects of earlier psychological distress, partners who reported higher levels of work–family conflict and social isolation reported higher levels of psychological distress, particularly within that stage of the deployment cycle. Finally, we found that reports of life stress influenced psychological distress experiences before deployment but not at any other time in the deployment cycle.

Is Military Employment Fair? Application of Social Comparison Theory in a Cross-National Military Sample:

Although military and civilian personnel work closely together in defense organizations, they are subject to different human resources practices and conditions of service. Assessments of military personnel along a range of job characteristics are examined to identify areas in which they assess themselves as “better or worse off” than their civilian counterparts, and how these comparisons relate to perceptions of fairness using data from Belgium, Canada, and the Netherlands. Military personnel reported meaningfulness/support aspects (e.g., meaningful work) as similar for military and civilian personnel, indicated that negative impacts (e.g., risk of injury) were greater for military, and perceived variability in instrumental benefits (e.g., pay, advancement). Upward social comparison (i.e., seeing oneself as worse off) was related to lower perceived fairness, whereas downward social comparison was related to higher perceived fairness. This research informs mechanisms for promoting perceptions of fairness and enhancing military–civilian personnel relations in defense establishments.

Parents’ voice : The intergenerational relationship, worry, appraisal of the deployment, and support among parents of deployed personnel

Because of the high-risk deployments into Afghanistan, soldiers’ parents have become more important in public opinion as well as in activities of family support groups. Although their voice is heard louder than ever before, research into parents’ experiences in the course of deployment is sparse. This study among 1,098 parents of Dutch soldiers reveals, among other things, that the relationship between service members and their parents can be described as strongly cohesive and may even be strengthened by a deployment. Moreover, parent–child cohesion and parents’ appraisal of their childs deployment predict parents’ support for the armed forces and its missions.

News from the home front : Communities supporting military families

In this study the question is raised how family support should be organized so that it is as efficient and effective as can be. Exchange theory can provide an answer to this question while taking into account that the needs of individuals will differ. In the study that is presented here, generalized reciprocity is the key concept that is derived from exchange theory. All support systems, in the seven countries under study, have benefited somehow from generalized reciprocity. However, what is effective and efficient support in the perception of one individual will differ from someone elses, and also, support systems that are effective and efficient in country X will not be so in country Y. Even though benefiting from generalized reciprocity, in the end the support system has to be matched to the support arrangement, arriving at different solutions in different countries.

Military families and war in the 21st century : comparative perspectives

This book focuses on the key issues that affect military families when soldiers are deployed overseas, focusing on the support given to military personnel and families before, during and after missions. Todays postmodern armies are expected to provide social-psychological support both to their personnel in military operations abroad and to their families at home. Since the end of the Cold War and even more so after 9/11, separations between military personnel and their families have become more frequent as there has been a multitude of missions carried out by multinational task forces all over the world. The book focuses on three central questions affecting military families. First, how do changing missions and tasks of the military affect soldiers and families? Second, what is the effect of deployments on the ones left behind? Third, what is the national structure of family support systems and its evolution?. The book employs a multidisciplinary approach, with contributions from psychology, sociology, history, anthropology and others. In addition, it covers all the services, Army, Navy/Marines, Air Force, spanning a wide range of countries, including UK, USA, Belgium, Turkey, Australia and Japan. At the same time it takes a multitude of perspectives such as the theoretical, empirical, reflective, life events (narrative) approach, national and the global, and uses approaches from different disciplines and perspectives, combining them to produce a volume that enhances our knowledge and understanding of military families. This book will be of much interest to students of military studies, sociology, war and conflict studies and IR/political science in general.