The Deployment Life Study: Methodological Overview and Baseline Sample Description

Abstract

The Deployment Life Study was designed to provide a deeper understanding of military family readiness and its sources. This report describes the theoretical model that informed the study design, the content of the baseline assessment, the design and procedures associated with data collection, sampling and recruiting procedures, and the baseline sample of military families.

Neighborhood Environment and Children's Physical Activity and Body Mass Index: Evidence from Military Personnel Installation Assignments

“…6 Contrary to common beliefs, children in military families exhibit similar troubling patterns as their civilian counterparts with respect to obesity and related behaviors. Approximately 30% of military children ages 6-17 years are overweight/ obese, 7 compared to 34% in the general population ages [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. 8 Among children ages 6-11, the percent watching 3 or more hours per day of television is 40% in the military versus 34% in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) samples and the percent eating fast food 3 or more times per week is 15% versus 17%.…”

Evaluation of a Family-Centered Preventive Intervention for Military Families: Parent and Child Longitudinal Outcomes

“…1 Approximately 45% had dependent children, and more than three-fourths had experienced 1 or more deployments. 1,2 Military children and their parents have negotiated the unprecedented challenges of recurrent separations, frequent moves, and the high operational tempo associated with a country engaged in a long war overseas.…”

“…1 Approximately 45% had dependent children, and more than three-fourths had experienced 1 or more deployments. 1,2 Military children and their parents have negotiated the unprecedented challenges of recurrent separations, frequent moves, and the high operational tempo associated with a country engaged in a long war overseas. 3 Many children have also experienced the hardships of parental injury, illness, and even loss within their families, influencing both child and parental well-being over time, 1,4 as well as the reverberating impact of these events within their communities (for review, see Holmes et al 5 ).…”

“…1,2 Military children and their parents have negotiated the unprecedented challenges of recurrent separations, frequent moves, and the high operational tempo associated with a country engaged in a long war overseas. 3 Many children have also experienced the hardships of parental injury, illness, and even loss within their families, influencing both child and parental well-being over time, 1,4 as well as the reverberating impact of these events within their communities (for review, see Holmes et al 5 ). A rapidly expanding body of research has consistently documented increased social, emotional, behavioral, and academic risk associated with parental wartime military service for children across developmental periods, as well as the direct and indirect reverberations of heightened stress across the family system (for review, see Lester and Flake 6 ).…”

Impact of deployment on military families with young children: A systematic review

“…The Deployment Life Study measures military families' emotional, psychological, and physical health over a 3-year period, including measures before and after a deployment (Tanielian, Karney, Chandra, & Meadows, 2014). However, only military children aged 11 years and older were recruited for this study.…”