Tannenbaum Karen, McMaster Hope Seib
Military Population Health Directorate, Naval Health Research Center, San Diego, CA, United States.
Performance and Readiness Division, Leidos, Inc., San Diego, CA, United States.
Front Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2024 Mar 19;3:1346726. doi: 10.3389/frcha.2024.1346726. eCollection 2024.
Adolescence is a particularly sensitive period of development for military-connected youth, given the socioemotional and physical changes that occur against the backdrop of the military career of their parent(s). Military-connected adolescents face unique stressors relative to their civilian counterparts, such as military relocations, parental absence due to deployments and trainings, and parental military-related physical and mental injury. These stressors may change family dynamics and disrupt social support networks, which can have lasting implications for adolescent health and well-being. At present, very little is known about how the current generation of military-connected adolescents are faring regarding their psychological and physical health, academic achievement, and educational or career aspirations. As part of the Biden-Harris Administration's commitment to military families, the U.S. Department of Defense pledged to address these major knowledge gaps by supporting the Study of Adolescent Resilience (SOAR). SOAR's longitudinal design provides a powerful tool for evaluating the effects of military family life on adolescent well-being into early adulthood.
SOAR is embedded within the larger Millennium Cohort Study, the first U.S. population-based prospective study to investigate long-term health effects of military service among active duty service members. Nearly 40,000 Millennium Cohort participants with adolescent children were invited to complete a web-based self-report survey that included items across interpersonal, socioenvironmental, and health domains, among others. Military parents provided referral information for their adolescent child and another primary parental figure, when available, to be invited to SOAR. This approach allowed survey data to be linked between these three family members (service member, spouse, and adolescent) to promote a comprehensive, family systems-based understanding of military-connected adolescent experiences and determinants of health, risk, and resilience.
Research findings will shed light on the enduring impact of military life on adolescents and the nature of associations between military-specific experiences and psychosocial health and well-being. Further, this research will assess modifiable risk and protective factors that may elucidate differences in military-connected adolescent psychosocial development and physical health, academic achievement, and educational and military career aspirations over time.
Findings gleaned from this research will be used to inform existing policy and programs designed to promote adolescent resilience.
鉴于在父母一方的军旅生涯背景下青少年会经历社会情感和身体上的变化，对于与军人有关联的青少年而言，青春期是一个特别敏感的发育时期。与平民同龄人相比，与军人有关联的青少年面临着独特的压力源，比如军事调动、父母因部署和训练而缺席，以及父母与军事相关的身心伤害。这些压力源可能会改变家庭动态，扰乱社会支持网络，这可能会对青少年的健康和幸福产生持久影响。目前，对于当前这一代与军人有关联的青少年在心理和身体健康、学业成绩以及教育或职业抱负方面的情况知之甚少。作为拜登-哈里斯政府对军人家庭承诺的一部分，美国国防部承诺通过支持青少年复原力研究（SOAR）来填补这些重大的知识空白。SOAR的纵向设计为评估军人家庭生活对青少年幸福感直至成年早期的影响提供了一个有力工具。
SOAR嵌入在更大规模的千禧队列研究之中，千禧队列研究是美国第一项基于人群的前瞻性研究，旨在调查现役军人服役对长期健康的影响。近40000名有青少年子女的千禧队列参与者被邀请完成一项基于网络的自我报告调查，该调查包括人际、社会环境和健康等领域的项目。军人父母为他们的青少年子女以及另一位主要家长（如有）提供推荐信息，以便被邀请参加SOAR。这种方法使调查数据能够在这三个家庭成员（军人、配偶和青少年）之间建立关联，以促进基于家庭系统的全面理解，了解与军人有关联的青少年的经历以及健康、风险和复原力的决定因素。
研究结果将揭示军事生活对青少年的持久影响，以及特定军事经历与心理社会健康和幸福感之间关联的性质。此外，这项研究将评估可改变的风险和保护因素，这些因素可能会阐明随着时间推移与军人有关联的青少年心理社会发展、身体健康、学业成绩以及教育和军事职业抱负方面的差异。
从这项研究中收集到的结果将用于为现有的旨在促进青少年复原力的政策和项目提供信息。
