Biopsychosocial Development of Children and Adolescents in Military Families

Approximately 1.64 million children have one or both parents serving in the U.S. military (Department of Defense, 2019). This translates to about 2.5% of all children residing in the U.S. who have a parent serving in active duty military or the reserves. This entry focuses on the biopsychosocial development of children and adolescents of military families, and in particular, how growing up in a military family may impact the developing child. Given the unique impact that parental deployment and post-deployment reintegration has on their children and family members, this entry will review our current knowledge of the challenges this poses for the family. The entry concludes with a review of resilience in military families and programs designed to support children and adolescents.