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Parental Deployment and Youth in Military Families: Exploring Uncertainty and Ambiguous Loss *
Author(s) -
Huebner Angela J.,
Mancini Jay A.,
Wilcox Ryan M.,
Grass Saralyn R.,
Grass Gabriel A.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
family relations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1741-3729
pISSN - 0197-6664
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-3729.2007.00445.x
Subject(s) - ambiguity , software deployment , coping (psychology) , psychology , psychological resilience , developmental psychology , intervention (counseling) , military deployment , perception , social psychology , mental health , clinical psychology , computer science , psychotherapist , psychiatry , operating system , neuroscience , programming language
Parental deployment has substantial effects on the family system, among them ambiguity and uncertainty. Youth in military families are especially affected by parental deployment because their coping repertoire is only just developing; the requirements of deployment become additive to normal adolescent developmental demands. Focus groups were used to inquire about uncertainty, loss, resilience, and adjustment among youth aged 12–18 that had a parent deployed, most often to a war zone. The nature of uncertainty and ambiguous loss was explored. Response themes included overall perceptions of uncertainty and loss, boundary ambiguity, changes in mental health, and relationship conflict. These accounts suggest that ambiguous loss is a useful concept for understanding the experiences of these youth and for structuring prevention and intervention efforts.