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Child Maltreatment in Military Families: Risk and Protective Factors, and Family-Systems Interventions

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Handbook of Interpersonal Violence and Abuse Across the Lifespan

Abstract

Approximately 40% of United States military personnel are parents to dependent children, and nearly five million people in the United States are considered to be part of a military family (Department of Defense 2017). Military families face unique stressors, including possible deployments, separations, moves, disruption of routines, physical and/or mental wounds in the service member, and new demands on the nonmilitary caretaker. Such stressors have the potential to impair parenting practices and disrupt family functioning. Although the prevalence of child maltreatment in military families historically has been lower than that of civilian families, factors specific to military involvement – including the post-9/11 rise in lengthy deployments – place military children at elevated risk for maltreatment. Child maltreatment has significant adverse physical, psychological, behavioral, intergenerational, and societal consequences. However, long-term consequences can be mitigated through the use of preventive measures and trauma-informed care. Despite the increase in reported child maltreatment in military families over the past 18 years, protective factors embedded into military culture – including the military values of strength, integrity, and community – support family recovery and resilience. This chapter will highlight the literature on child maltreatment in military families, including its prevalence and associated risk and protective factors. It will then describe evidence-informed psychological interventions designed specifically to support adaptive functioning and/or parenting in military families. Finally, it will summarize additional evidence-based treatments that have been adapted for use with military families.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA

    Emily D. Wolodiger, Jonathan S. Goldner, Ashton M. Lofgreen & Niranjan S. Karnik

  2. University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    William R. Saltzman & Patricia E. Lester

Authors
  1. Emily D. Wolodiger
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  2. Jonathan S. Goldner
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  3. Ashton M. Lofgreen
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  4. William R. Saltzman
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  5. Patricia E. Lester
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  6. Niranjan S. Karnik
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Emily D. Wolodiger .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute on Violence, Abuse, and Trauma, San Diego, CA, USA

    Robert Geffner

  2. Department of Psychology College of Arts and Sciences, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USA

    Jacquelyn W. White

  3. Department of Family and Community Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA

    L. Kevin Hamberger

  4. Department of Psychology, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, USA

    Alan Rosenbaum

  5. Ethelyn R. Strong School of Social Work, Norfolk State University, Norfolk, VA, USA

    Viola Vaughan-Eden

  6. Education and Research, Zero Abuse Project, St. Paul, MN, USA

    Victor I. Vieth

Section Editor information

  1. Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Ernestine Briggs

  2. School of Social Work, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA

    Javonda Williams

  3. Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Eastern Virginia Medical School/Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters, Norfolk, VA, USA

    Michelle Clayton

  4. The UP Institute, CEO, New Orleans, LA, USA

    Stacie LeBlanc

  5. Ethelyn R. Strong School of Social Work, Norfolk State University, Norfolk, VA, USA

    Viola Vaughan-Eden

  6. Owner/Principle Consultant & Trainer, Russell Consulting Specialists, LLc, Vancouver, Washington, USA

    Amy Russell

  7. Executive Director, Arthur D. Curtis Children's Justice Center http://www.clark.wa.gov/cjc

    Amy Russell

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Wolodiger, E.D., Goldner, J.S., Lofgreen, A.M., Saltzman, W.R., Lester, P.E., Karnik, N.S. (2022). Child Maltreatment in Military Families: Risk and Protective Factors, and Family-Systems Interventions. In: Geffner, R., White, J.W., Hamberger, L.K., Rosenbaum, A., Vaughan-Eden, V., Vieth, V.I. (eds) Handbook of Interpersonal Violence and Abuse Across the Lifespan. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89999-2_263

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