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Internalizing and Externalizing Behavior of Children With Enlisted Navy Mothers Experiencing Military-Induced Separation

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ABSTRACT

Objectives

To examine whether children with Navy mothers exhibit higher levels of internalizing and externalizing behavior than children in civilian families and whether deployment affects children's internalizing and externalizing behavior.

Method

Navy mothers who experienced deployment completed a measure assessing children's internalizing and externalizing behavior before and after a deployment (and at similar intervals for the Navy and civilian comparison groups). Data collection took place between 1996 and 1998.

Results

Navy children with deployed mothers exhibited higher levels of internalizing behavior than children with nondeployed Navy mothers. Navy children whose mothers experienced deployment were more likely to exhibit clinical levels of internalizing behavior than Navy children with nondeployed mothers or civilian children. Group differences, however, were modest and overall mean scores were in the normal range.

Conclusions

Findings do not suggest greater pathology in children of Navy mothers; however, findings do indicate we should be particularly attentive of deployed mothers and their children.

Section snippets

Recruitment of Navy Mothers

A commander who served as the point of contact at the Atlantic Fleet Command identified ships with mixed-gender crews stationed in the Hampton Roads, Virginia, area that were scheduled to deploy, as well as four shore commands with mixed-gender crews. A senior officer at each of these commands was contacted by the point of contact or the first author and informed of the study. Prior to scheduled data-collection visits, members of the administrative office crew generated a list of female

Overview

We compared CBCL data across the three groups (Navy children with deployed mothers, Navy children with nondeployed mothers, and children with civilian mothers) in two ways. First, we compared the mean T scores across groups. Second, we categorized children's T scores as in the clinical or nonclinical range and then compared the number of children with clinical and nonclinical scores across groups.

Next, we examined CBCL data for children in Navy families only. We believed that comparing Navy

Behavior of Children of Deployed Mothers and Children of Civilian and Nondeployed Navy Mothers

Children with Navy mothers had slightly higher levels of externalizing behavior than our comparison sample of civilian controls. The mean levels of internalizing behavior did not differ between groups. When data were converted to clinical versus nonclinical coding, more children whose mothers experienced deployment were likely to have scores in the clinical range than either the Navy or civilian control groups.

Children of Deployed and Nondeployed Military Mothers

Navy mothers and their child care providers reported that children whose mothers

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  • Cited by (0)

    The United States Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, DAMD17-96-1-6300, supported this work as part of the Defense Women's Health Research Project. The views, opinions, and/or findings contained in this manuscript are those of the authors and should not be construed as official or as reflecting the views of the Department of Defense. The authors thank Patricia Thomas, Commander Ann O’Connor, Cathy G. Cooke, and the participants for their assistance.

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