Born, Raised and Transferred: Exploring the life of military children

A very famous counsellor and professor, Lynn K. Hall, from the University of Phoenix, in her book “Counselling Military Families” referred to the military as having a unique lifestyle which is not easily fathomed by civilians. For most of us, our job is just our profession. It does not express who we really are as individuals. However, an Army life brings with it a particular structure with its own distinctive traditions, norms, viewpoints, perspectives and operating procedures and thus, the military life presents a community and a culture of its own.

This way of life creates distinctive stressors upon service personnel and their family. Peculiar pressures of relocation and deployment tend to impact not just the service personnel, but also their spouses and children. Research on the exploration of military families’ needs and stressors is an immensely understudied subject. While most research in this area focuses upon the impact of deployment on the family system and military induced family separations, limited attention is paid to the impact of growing up in an army lifestyle.

Some of the demands an army life places on children includes periodical geographical relocation, lengthy separations from family members, educational disruptions, and cultural changes. LaGrone in the 1970s coined a term called, ‘military family syndrome’ which states that military families tend to experience greater psychosocial issues than the general population. Several studies have concluded that stress and mental health concerns tend to have a negative academic, social-emotional, and psychological outcomes on a military child (Angrist & Johnson, 2000; Mmari et al., 2009). According to a study conducted by Chandra et al. in 2009, more symptoms of anxiety and academic and friendship issues are observed in military children in comparison to their civilian counterparts.

While adolescents everywhere experience challenges on a daily basis due to the turbulent nature of adolescence, for military adolescents, additional stressors of relocation, deployment, multiple school transitions amongst others that are not typically experienced by their civilian peers, increases their difficulties even more.

However, when it comes to diagnosing psychopathology, many researchers, including Morrison (1981) have stated that no differences are observed between military and non-military children. Similarly, studies conducted by Jensen, Xenukis, Wolj & Buin in 1991 reported that military families don’t possess higher than normal levels of psychopathology in comparison to their civilian equivalents.

Extensively a positive attitude regarding the military adolescent’s future adjustment exists. With awareness regarding the undeniable difficulties faced by military families, an army community acts as a protective factor for all. A military base, working as a community of its own, acts as a small and self-sufficient town promoting conformity and forming a subculture of its own. This homogeneous culture through schooling, residences, recreation and other amenities, attempts to provide a uniform life to all its citizens providing a sense of comfort or restriction or both.

A military brat is never quite in the military, but also never quite out of it. They represent a blend of cultures and everything that comes with it. The term “brat” denotes a badge of honour and a label that they own with pride.

Tanya Bakshi

Psychologist

Chetana Counselling Centre