Military Children and Families T he Fu Military Children and Families tu re o re f C VOLUME 23 NUMBER 2 FALL 2013 hil dr 3 Military Children and Families: Introducing the Issue en 13 The Demographics of Military Children and Families 41 Economic Conditions of Military Families 61 Military Children from Birth to Five Years 79 Child Care and Other Support Programs 99 Resilience among Military Youth 121 How Wartime Military Service Affects Children and Families 143 When a Parent Is Injured or Killed in Combat V ol um 163 Building Communities of Care for Military Children and Families e 2 187 Unlocking Insights about Military Children and Families 3 199 Afterword: What We Can Learn from Military Children and Families Nu mb e r 2 F a ll 2013 A COLLABORATION OF THE WOODROW WILSON SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS AT PRINCETON UNIVERSITY AND THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION The Future of Children and the Military Child Education Coalition jointly developed this issue of the journal to promote effective policies and programs for military-connected children and their families by providing timely, objective information based on the best available research. Senior Editorial Staff Journal Staff Sara McLanahan Kris McDonald Editor-in-Chief Associate Editor Princeton University Princeton University Director, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing, and William S. Tod Jon Wallace Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs Managing Editor Princeton University Janet M. Currie Senior Editor Lisa Markman-Pithers Princeton University Outreach Director Director, Center for Health and Wellbeing, Princeton University and Henry Putnam Professor of Economics Acting Director, Education and Public Affairs Research Section Ron Haskins Stephanie Cencula Senior Editor Outreach Coordinator Brookings Institution Brookings Institution Senior Fellow and Co-Director, Center on Regina Leidy Children and Families Communications Coordinator Cecilia Elena Rouse Princeton University Senior Editor Tracy Merone Princeton University Administrator Dean, Woodrow Wilson School of Public Princeton University and International Affairs, Katzman-Ernst Professor in the Economics of Education, and Professor of Economics and Public Affairs Isabel Sawhill Senior Editor Brookings Institution Senior Fellow, Cabot Family Chair, and Co-Director, Center on Children and Families The Future of Children would like to thank the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the William T. Grant Foundation, the Foundation for Child Development, and the Achelis and Bodman Foundations for their generous support. ISSN: 1054-8289 ISBN: 978-0-9857863-1-1 VOLUME 23 NUMBER 2 FALL 2013 Military Children and Families 3 Military Children and Families: Introducing the Issue by Colonel Stephen J. Cozza (U.S. Army, Retired) and Richard M. Lerner 13 The Demographics of Military Children and Families by Molly Clever and David R. Segal 41 Economic Conditions of Military Families by James Hosek and Shelley MacDermid Wadsworth 61 Military Children from Birth to Five Years by Joy D. Osofsky and Lieutenant Colonel Molinda M. Chartrand (U.S. Air Force) 79 Child Care and Other Support Programs by Major Latosha Floyd (U.S. Army) and Deborah A. Phillips 99 Resilience among Military Youth by M. Ann Easterbrooks, Kenneth Ginsburg, and Richard M. Lerner 121 How Wartime Military Service Affects Children and Families by Patricia Lester and Lieutenant Colonel Eric Flake (U.S. Air Force) 143 When a Parent Is Injured or Killed in Combat by Allison K. Holmes, Paula K. Rauch, and Colonel Stephen J. Cozza (U.S. Army, Retired) 163 Building Communities of Care for Military Children and Families by Harold Kudler and Colonel Rebecca I. Porter (U.S. Army) 187 Unlocking Insights about Military Children and Families by Anita Chandra and Andrew S. London 199 Afterword: What We Can Learn from Military Children and Families by Ann S. Masten www.futureofchildren.org Military Children and Families: Introducing the Issue Military Children and Families: Introducing the Issue Colonel Stephen J. Cozza (U.S. Army, Retired) and Richard M. Lerner n this issue of The Future of States has seen the largest sustained deploy- Children, we seek to integrate exist- ment of military servicemen and service- ing knowledge about the children women in the history of the all-volunteer and families of today’s United States force. As a result, more than two million military; to identify what we know military children have been separated from I(and don’t know) about their strengths and their service member parents, both fathers the challenges they face, as well as the and mothers, because of combat deploy- programs that serve them; to specify direc- ments. Many families have seen multiple tions for future research; and to illuminate deployments—three, four, even five or more the evidence (or lack thereof) behind cur- family separations and reunifications. Others rent and future policies and programs that have struggled with combat-related mental serve these children and families. At the health problems, including posttraumatic same time, we highlight how research on stress disorder (PTSD); physical injuries, nonmilitary children and families can help including traumatic brain injury (TBI); and us understand their military-connected death, all of which can affect children and counterparts and, in turn, how research on families for years.1 military children can contribute both to a general understanding of human develop- Media reports about the wars and human ment and to our knowledge of other popula- interest stories about combat veterans and tions of American children. their families have made most Americans more aware of the challenges that military These goals are timely and important. Since families and children have faced over the the war in Afghanistan began in 2001, fol- past decade. The history of military children, lowed in 2002 by the war in Iraq, the United www.futureofchildren.org Colonel Stephen J. Cozza (U.S. Army, retired) is a professor of psychiatry and associate director of the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Richard M. Lerner is the Bergstrom Chair in Applied Developmental Science and the director of the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development at Tufts University. VOL. 23 / NO. 2 / FALL 2013 3 Colonel Stephen J. Cozza (U.S. Army, Retired) and Richard M. Lerner however, goes back much further in time and The articles here present considerable evi- tells a complex story of the interrelationship dence about America’s military-connected among these children, their military parents children and their families, but the authors and families, and the military and civilian also point to the limits of our knowledge. communities in which they live. Though At this writing, in the second decade of the these children face many hardships, they also 21st century, we still need unbiased, basic demonstrate health and wellness in many information about what typically character- ways, and they live in communities with rich izes children’s development in our diverse traditions and resources that strive to sup- military-connected families. Research on the port them. development of military children has focused largely on the quality or function of their fam- The terms military child and military family ily systems and on the potential risks of a par- have been used in various ways. President ent’s deployment to their wellbeing, but we Barack Obama and the Joint Chiefs of Staff need to understand more about the strengths define military families as active-duty service and resilience of these young people, particu- members, members of the National Guard larly as they face challenging circumstances. and Reserve, and veterans, plus the members A few studies describe how a parent’s PTSD affects children, but we know very little about of their immediate and extended families, as the effect on children of combat-related well as the families of those who lost their injuries (including TBI) and death, and we lives in service to their country.2 However, must extrapolate from the civilian literature researchers who study and collect data on in those areas; we need longitudinal studies military families and children typically (research that follows children and family define military families as the spouses and members across time) that examine military dependent children (age 22 and younger) children in these circumstances. The knowl- of men and women on active duty or in the edge we have is sufficient neither to guide our National Guard and Reserve. This is the understanding of military children’s resilience definition we use here, although we broaden nor to help us design better programs to miti- it to include the children of military veterans gate the risks they face. because the experience of military family life may continue to affect the growth and health Much of the research about military children of parents, families, and children long after examines stressful experiences (for example, service members leave the armed forces. a parent’s deployment, moving, or maltreat- Though we recognize that military service ment and abuse) or the deficits that these also affects parents, siblings, and other rela- stress factors purportedly cause (for example, tives of service members, our authors do not poor academic performance, depression, or discuss these relatives in any detail, reflect- behavioral problems).3 Though we need to ing a paucity of research in this area. In addi- understand any negative effects of military tion, what becomes of military children when life on children, the data from such research they reach adulthood, including their own tell neither the complete story nor what is greater propensity to volunteer for military perhaps the more important story. In large service, is also of great interest and worthy of part, researchers have yet to examine mili- future research, but it is outside the scope of tary children’s strengths, how these strengths this issue. can sustain them through adversity, or how 4 THE FUTURE OF CHILDREN Military Children and Families: Introducing the Issue their own strengths interact and develop with 2.