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Military Deployment and its Consequences for Families pp 241–257Cite as

The Effects of Wounds of War on Family Functioning in a National Guard Sample: An Exploratory Study

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Part of the book series: Risk and Resilience in Military and Veteran Families ((RRMV))

Abstract

When a service member is injured in the line of duty, whether the injury is physical, psychological, or a combination, family members and relationships are impacted. This chapter looks at the etiology of self-reported deployment injury among a sample of National Guard service members who deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan between 2006 and 2009. This study explores how physical injuries relates to family functioning and mental health outcomes in the early post deployment phase of reintegration. In particular, we were interested in service members’ and spouses’ reports of relationship adjustment and parenting stress, and how families with a self-reported injury fared in comparison to families without an injury. Preliminary findings with this sample suggest that a deployment injury may have more of an effect on the service members’ mental health and parenting stress than on their spouse or significant other at this early readjustment period.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Michigan Public Health Institute, Okemos, MI, USA

    Lisa Gorman Ph.D.

  2. Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    Adrian Blow Ph.D. & Chris Jarman

  3. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Michelle Kees Ph.D.

  4. Department of Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Marcia Valenstein M.D.

  5. Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Marcia Valenstein M.D.

  6. Pacific Islands Division, US Department of Veterans Affairs, Honolulu, HI, USA

    Jim Spira Ph.D.

  7. National Center for PTSD, Honolulu, HI, USA

    Jim Spira Ph.D.

  8. VA Healthcare, Honolulu, HI, USA

    Jim Spira Ph.D.

Authors
  1. Lisa Gorman Ph.D.
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  2. Adrian Blow Ph.D.
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  3. Michelle Kees Ph.D.
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  4. Marcia Valenstein M.D.
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  5. Chris Jarman
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  6. Jim Spira Ph.D.
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lisa Gorman Ph.D. .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Development & Family Studies, Military Family Research Institute, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA

    Shelley MacDermid Wadsworth

  2. Dept. Medical & Clinical Psychology, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

    David S. Riggs

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Gorman, L., Blow, A., Kees, M., Valenstein, M., Jarman, C., Spira, J. (2014). The Effects of Wounds of War on Family Functioning in a National Guard Sample: An Exploratory Study. In: MacDermid Wadsworth, S., Riggs, D. (eds) Military Deployment and its Consequences for Families. Risk and Resilience in Military and Veteran Families. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8712-8_13

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