The long term impact of veteran's experiences on their families

Military life can also involve difficulties for families, particularly in managing the expectations of military and civilian cultures. Values that may be important in a military context such as discipline and obedience to authority may not always mesh with civilian behaviours and values, such as negotiation and compromise.

Mental health issues can impact on a person’s ability to parent effectively. For example, a parent with depression may find he or she has little motivation or energy, and therefore struggles to interact with the children; he or she may become irritable and less patient with children or may lack the confidence to set limits.

 The practical realities of military life have perhaps the most significant impacts on family functioning, including long absences during training and deployments, changes in roles and responsibilities, adapting to regular relocations, and managing upheavals in partners’ careers and children’s schooling. Military families have to cope with the potential for exposure to extraordinary risks, such as the injury or death in combat of a family member. A potentially challenging period for some is the transition out of the military. Separation from Defence can involve changes in location, finances and family roles (e.g., the partner of a veteran becoming the main income earner).

The emotional and physical impact of exposure to combat, humanitarian, peacekeeping and peacemaking experiences for veterans can have long-term consequences for many families. For example, recurring depression, chronic substance abuse or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may lead to long-term conflict or disengagement within the family. Anxiety about the veteran’s mental health and taking on the role of carer can also take a toll on family members.

The difficulties encountered by military families have had varied impacts across generations and for different conflicts. For example, the Vietnam War involved conscription as well as deployment of full-time professional forces. Many families of conscripted veterans were shaped by the unexpected impact of the war and what often turned out to be well over 300 days of absence. It was not unusual for Vietnam veterans to have started a relationship or a family just before being conscripted, and to return markedly changed by their war experience. For more than half of recent veterans, their families have had to cope with multiple deployments, which can place significant strains on relationships, change parenting roles, and impact on the whole family’s social networks

Children who have a parent with a mental health issue are more likely to experience behavioural problems, difficulties in forming and maintaining relationships, poor coping skills, academic difficulties, and are more likely to develop mental health issues themselves. These issues can continue into adulthood. For example, adult children of Vietnam veterans have a higher rate of accidental death and suicide 

the findings:

• Combat trauma experiences, such as engaging directly with the enemy, were associated with more negative outcomes. But psychological trauma, such as witnessing noncombatant injuries or injuries of a comrade, and physical injuries, sometimes resulted in improved outcomes for families. Meadows explained that in some cases, the service member may have gained a greater appreciation for family and life in these cases. These findings merit more exploration, researchers noted.
• Across the deployment cycle, on the average, couples become less satisfied with their marriage. But those changes aren’t significantly different from the changes experienced by matched couples that didn’t deploy. Meadows said it’s not unusual for marital satisfaction to decline in civilian couples, too.
• For spouses, more frequent communication with the service member during deployment is associated with greater marital satisfaction after the deployment.
• There was no overall significant effect of deployment on psychological or behavioral health problems for service members or spouses. But service members who experienced deployment trauma showed an increase in depression, post-traumatic stress and anxiety symptoms, compared with their levels before deployment. When the service member was injured during the study deployment, the spouse showed increases in these symptoms, as well as in binge drinking. Researchers recommended, during that post-deployment phase for military families, that programs, services and polices should target families whose service member experienced deployment trauma.
• Leaving the military in the post-deployment period had effects on service members and spouses. For spouses, there was lower marital satisfaction; and deployed members who subsequently separated from or retired from the military showed increased levels of psychological symptoms. Addressing psychological problems around the time of separation from the military may be important for avoiding longer-term problems, the researchers noted.
• There generally was no significant effect from deployment on children and teens. But an exception was found from spouses who reported concerns following a study deployment about their children who were younger than 11. There were more difficulties, such as emotional conduct and peer problems, and more need for child mental health services, compared with these younger children in matched families who didn’t experience a deployment during the research period.
• Sometimes teens disagreed with their parents’ perceptions of how the family was adjusting after the deployment. Teens said after the deployment, family cohesion was not as good, and the relationship with the parent at home was not as good. Some said that after the deployment, the relationship with the deployed parent was not as good. Of the 425 teens who provided information, the changes the researchers saw "were enough to be statistically significant," Meadows said.
• Teens reported that their drug use increased slightly after deployment. They self-reported drug use as very low (around "never") before and during deployments, but increased afterward to just slightly more than "never."
• Service members and spouses who engaged in predeployment activities reported higher satisfaction with parenting post-deployment.
• Financial distress declined during the deployment for both the spouse and the service member.
• Communication with other military families and other military teens during the deployment was strongly associated with more positive outcomes.

https://at-ease.dva.gov.au/…/12-impact-veterans-experiences…

A Father’s War, A Son’s Toxic Inheritance https://www.propublica.org/…/a-fathers-war-a-sons-toxic-inh…
Psychological Problems in Children of War Veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2525831/
 https://at-ease.dva.gov.au/professionals/client-resources/mental-health-advice-book/12-impact-veterans-experiences-their
 https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2016/04/11/study-families-experience-generally-few-long-term-effects-from-deployment/