It is well known that children of servicemembers face numerous stressors that civilian children do not experience. The constant moving and adapting to new locations is definitely one of the stressors. However, experts agree that the biggest stressor by far, is deployments. When a parent is gone for long periods of time, then reappears, just to leave again it can cause mass confusion and anxiety for children. Readjusting to having another authority figure home can take time and effort to get used to.

In a recent study, "Views from the Homefront: The Experiences of Youth and Spouses from Military Families," sponsored by the National Military Family Association and performed by the RAND Corporation followed 1,127 children for over a year to study how the children were dealing with having a parent deployed to combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. The researchers appraised the children and one non deployed guardian during the year assessing behavioral and emotional issues during the deployment cycle.

The study found that boys in general had harder time with the deployment and experienced more behavioral problems then girls. The study also found that children going through longer deployments had a much harder time readjusting to the reintegration process then children who endured shorter deployments. The same children had more emotional problems and a harder time during the actual deployment. One third of the children studied showed moderate to high emotional problems compared to one fifth nationally. Thirty percent of the children continued to have long term anxiety and behavioral problems which is double the reported national average.

There were multiple stressors and challenges for children related to the outcome. The children studied said that they had more chores, they felt misunderstood by their communities during deployments, and that the perceived change in the deployed parent once the servicemember returned home were all hard to deal with. The studied parent and guardians reported stressors that included larger workloads, the change in marital responsibilities and family communication issues as factors that increased their stress. Active duty children experienced less emotional and behavioral challenges then families of Reserve and National Guard components.

There are a few coping mechanisms that help to lower stress for the families. The study found that good communication was a key factor in minimizing emotional and behavioral problems during the deployment cycles.  Researchers found that when the parents or legal guardians took time to express understanding and empathy toward the children's feelings during deployment fewer emotional and behavioral challenges existed. Validating the children's emotions and finding outside support helped lower the amount of reported behavioral issues.

The study can be found on www.rand.org and was carried out by the nonprofit RAND Center for Military Health Policy Research and the Forces and Resources Policy Center of the RAND National Security Research Division.