An Attachment View on Parental Deployment in Adolescence: Examining the Impact on the Parent-Adolescent Relationship

Adolescence is a period of vulnerability and profound change, during which the parental relationship remains integral to positive developmental outcomes. For adolescents in military families, parental deployment creates an additional stressor which may pose challenges to the relationship between parents and adolescents. This project was a preliminary qualitative study to develop a Theoretical model of how the parent-adolescent attachment relationship is affected by parental deployment over the deployment cycle. This researcher explored these adolescents' perception of their relationship with their parents through focus group interviews with military adolescents who have experienced parental deployment. An important explanatory and predictive factor in parent-child relationships and adjustment outcomes is Attachment Theory (Bowlby, 1969/1982). Attachment Theory provides a framework for understanding the process that occurs between parents and children that leads to positive or negative outcomes and the mechanisms that underlie relational ties. Theoretical thematic analysis was employed using an attachment framework to explore the relationship between the parents and adolescents over the course of deployment.