Maternal deployment and maternal resilience: effects on parenting stress and resilience building strategies for children

摘要

Since the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, more than 170,000 mothers have experienced a military deployment. A mother\u27s deployment can have significant effects on a child\u27s mental, physical, and socio-emotional well-being (Ginsburg, 2011), so many military children are at increased risk for poor developmental outcomes. Family-resilience literature suggests, however, that with appropriate support, children can cope with such adverse experiences and end the deployment cycle with a positive outcome. The aim of this paper is to further understand the development of resilience in military children whose mothers have deployed, with emphasis on the resilience-promoting behaviors of such mothers with respect to their children. The overall results of the study indicate that a causal relationship may be established between maternal stress levels and internal stress levels. The study suggests that lower levels of maternal stress after deployment are related to higher intrinsic levels of inner resilience.