https://aub.ie/MilitaryREACH-BullockW2022

Bullock, A., Williams, L., & Goubanova, E. (2022). Sources of risk and resilience among adolescents from military families. Military Behavioral Health, 10(2), 124-133. https://doi.org/10.1080/21635781.2022.2098883

To extend the literature on military-connected adolescents that focuses primarily on risk, this study explored sources of both risk and resilience among 178 adolescents from Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) families. Adolescents answered open-ended survey questions in which they compared their perceived challenges and opportunities as military children to those of their civilian counterparts. Thematic analysis resulted in 4 emergent themes, categorized as either a source of risk (i.e., relocation and parental deployment) or resilience (i.e., military-sponsored programs and services and opportunities of military life).

https://doi.org/10.1080/21635781.2022.2098883

Youth
Mental health
Deployment

International Military

Active Duty

Child of a service member or veteran

Adolescence (13 - 17 yrs)
Adulthood (18 yrs & older)
Young adulthood (18 - 29 yrs)

Qualitative Study
Cross sectional study

Bullock, Amanda, Williams, Lisa, Goubanova, Elena

Most of the extant research examining the impact of military life on adolescents from military families has focused on various sources of risk that negatively influence military-connected youths’ well-being. As such, the resilience factors that contribute to military-connected youth adjustment to military life are currently understudied, particularly in Canada. Therefore, the goal of the present study was to explore the perceptions of adolescents from Canadian Armed Forces families with regard to the sources of risk and resilience that affect their well-being. A sample of N = 178 adolescents (108 females, 70 males) between the ages of 14–19 years (Mage 16.44 years, SD = 1.59) from families of Canadian Regular Force service members responded to open-ended questions about the challenges and opportunities of military life they believed they encounter in comparison to adolescents from nonmilitary families. The results from thematic analyses revealed that these military-connected youth perceived enduring multiple unique challenges related to social disruptions, lack of sense of belonging, and feelings of distress during relocations and lack of parental availability and feelings of concern during parental deployment. Two themes on the sources of resilience emerged from the analyses, including access to military-sponsored programs and services, and travel opportunities resulting from the military parents’ career. The findings are discussed in terms of the ways to help adolescents adjust to military life challenges.

Taylor & Francis

Article
REACH Publication

Director General Military Personnel Research and Analysis (DGMPRA), Department of National Defence (DND), AB
Director General Military Personnel Research and Analysis (DGMPRA), Department of National Defence (DND), LW
Director General Military Personnel Research and Analysis (DGMPRA), Department of National Defence (DND), EG