Mothering very young children after wartime deployment: A case report

Parenting very young children in the context of military service, deployment separations, and war-related trauma can be challenging for many families. Female active duty personnel represent one of the fastest growing segments of the military, and recent policy changes have led women to pursue serving in combat positions at much higher rates. While not much is known about service member mothers, some studies have shown that they experience significant symptoms of distress, depression, and anxiety during the deployment cycle, feelings of disconnection from family during reintegration, and higher rates of childhood trauma histories than their male counterparts. Service member mothers who experience the combined stressors of deployment separation, combat exposure, and adverse childhood experiences-a triple threat-may be at serious risk of posttraumatic stress and depressive symptomatology, which can negatively influence the quality and nature of their parenting and parent-child relationships. This case report describes the participation of a young single service member mother and her preschool-aged daughter in a home-based, reintegration program designed for military families with very young children (ages 0-5). The paper illustrates how this relationship-based, reflective parenting intervention was effective in increasing the mother's sense of competence in her parenting and strengthening the parent-child relationship.