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Parental military service and adolescent well‐being: mental health, social connections and coping among youth in the USA
Author(s) -
LucierGreer Mallory,
Arnold Amy Laura,
Grimsley Rebecca Neilann,
Ford James L.,
Bryant Chalandra,
Mancini Jay A.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
child and family social work
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.912
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1365-2206
pISSN - 1356-7500
DOI - 10.1111/cfs.12158
Subject(s) - military service , psychology , mental health , neighbourhood (mathematics) , coping (psychology) , developmental psychology , social psychology , clinical psychology , psychiatry , political science , mathematical analysis , mathematics , law
The association between parental military work factors and adolescent's well‐being was examined. Data were collected from 1036 military youth. Using a within‐group design, we examined adolescent's well‐being related to parental absence, school and neighbourhood transitions, paygrade/rank and participation in military‐sponsored activities, and differentiated outcomes by sex and age. Two parental work factors primarily influenced adolescent's well‐being, parental paygrade/rank and engagement in military‐sponsored activities. Parental paygrade/rank was the only factor uniformly related to poorer well‐being, and this variable likely represents a more complex set of family circumstances. Engaging in military‐sponsored activities served as a resource and was related to enhanced well‐being. Individual‐level differences and implications for social workers are discussed.