Comprehensive Report2013

Foreword
May 1, 2013 e unique military lifestyle is in some ways a world that must be lived to be known, but must be shared to be understood. Surveys are one way to provide insight into the challenges and the strengths of our nations military families. Now in its fourth iteration, the Blue Star Families Military Family Lifestyle Survey highlights the experiences of our military community after more than a decade of war. With new budget uncertainties, it is more important than ever to make sure we have innovative, eective programming and collaborative partnerships to support our military families. One avenue established in support of such eorts is the Joining Forces initiative, launched by First Lady, Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden to raise awareness about the service, sacrice, and needs of our nations service members, veterans, and military families. Joining Forces has highlighted the value of partnerships and collaboration in the way ahead. For example, when Joining Forces, now in its second year, was rst launched in February 2012, only 11 states had legislation with key measures to support military spouses on the books. Now, that number is 29 states and growing. And, in response to concerns about our military childrens ability to pursue their education, the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) is expanding Advance Placement courses in high schools with large military populations. is gives military children in 52 public high schools across 15 states a chance to earn college credit. By this fall, this initiative will expand to 80 schools across 20 states, with the ultimate goal of reaching 250 military connected schools. ese successes demonstrate the importance of partnerships and the spirit of collective action. e public, private, and non-prot sectors all have an important piece of the puzzle and so too do our local communities. It will continue to take strategic collaboration, based on quantiable research like this survey, to translate goodwill into measurable outcomes that benet our military community and strengthen our nation. We encourage you to take the ndings and analysis of these results and seek out ways to make a dierence within your own community. ank you to Blue Star Families and to the organizations that helped to distribute the survey.
Deanie Dempsey Blue Star Spouse and Mom
AUTHORS
From the O ce of Research and Policy
Blue Star Families, Department of Research and Policy. 2013 Military Family Lifestyle Survey: Findings and Analysis. Washington, D.C. May, 2013. Blue Star Families is a national, non-prot network of military families from all ranks and services, including guard and reserve, dedicated to supporting, connecting and empowering military families. Together with our partners, Blue Star Families hosts a robust array of morale and empowerment programs, including Books on Bases, Blue Star Museums, Operation Honor Corps, Blue Star Careers, and Operation Appreciation. Blue Star Families also works directly with the Department of Defense (DoD) and senior members of local, state and federal government to bring the most important military family issues to light. Working in concert with fellow non-prots, community advocates, and public ocials, Blue Star Families raises awareness of the challenges and strengths of military family life and works to make military life more sustainable. Our worldwide membership includes military spouses, children, parents, and friends, as well as service members, veterans and civilians. To learn more about Blue Star Families, visit www.bluestarfam.org or join us on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Blue Star Families, Inc. P.O. Box 322 Falls Church, Virginia 22040
Blue Star Families

Vivian Greentree, Ph.D., Director Debbie Bradbard, Ph.D., Deputy Director Leah Dagher, Research Analyst Kathleen Levingston, Ph.D., Research Analyst Cammy Elquist Lore, Research Analyst Jennifer A. Taylor, Ph.D., Research Analyst
With help from:

Sara Resnick-Luetke, Assistant Analyst AnnaMaria Mannino White, Assistant Analyst Kitsa Lee, Assistant Analyst Michele Kimball, Ph.D., Assistant Analyst
Special thanks to:

Robert Byrd Shana Johnson Jill Qualters Cristin Shier Susan omas
Lea Xanakis Megan Wallace
TABLE OF CONTENTS
OVERVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 METHODOLOGY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 SURVEY RESPONDENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 TOP ISSUES FOR MILITARY FAMILIES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
FAMILY WELL-BEING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
THE MILITARY CHILD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Effects of Deployment on Emotional Well-Being and Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Education and the Military Child. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Exceptional Family Member Program. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
CHILDCARE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Existing Childcare Resources for Military Families . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Finding Childcare and Utilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Satisfaction with Childcare Options, Quality of Childcare, and Access to Childcare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Recommendations for Childcare and Looking Ahead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
CAREGIVING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Respite Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
DEPLOYMENTS, WELLNESS, AND DAY-TO-DAY STRESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Personal Stress Level During Deployment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Day-to-Day Stress Level and Coping Ability During Deployment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Spouse-Reported Use of Support Services During Deployment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Spouse Relationship and Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Service Utilization for Marriage Counseling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Communication During Deployment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Military Family Separations for Reasons Other Than Deployment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Reported Service Branch Support for Military Lifestyle Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
REINTEGRATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Reintegration Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Service Member Transition Concerns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
BEHAVIORAL AND MENTAL HEALTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Posttraumatic Stress (PTS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Service Member Suicide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Military Family Suicide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
FINANCIAL READINESS AND THE FUTURE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

FINANCIAL EDUCATION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 FINANCIAL HEALTH. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 HOME OWNERSHIP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
USE AND CONFIDENCE IN BENEFITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 SPOUSE EMPLOYMENT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Reasons for Not Working . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Childcare and Spouse Employment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Military Spouse Entrepreneurship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Military Spouse Employment Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
MILITARY-CIVILIAN INTERSECTIONS AND CONNECTEDNESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

MILITARY FAMILY COMMUNICATION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Social Media Use and Military Family Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Social Media Platform Use (by Branch and Age). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Military Family Members and Different Social Media Habits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Information and Resource Seeking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
CIVIC ENGAGEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Engagement and Volunteerism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Net Promoter Score . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Joining Forces to Bridge the Civilian-Military Divide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
PUBLIC POLICY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Condence in Institutions and Foreign Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Impact of the Repeal of DADT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 ABOUT THE AUTHORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 WORKS CITED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
2013 MILITARY FAMILY LIFESTYLE SURVEY REPORT
OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
Despite the drawdown of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the United States will continue to rely on an all-volunteer military for global stability and security for the foreseeable future. e Blue Star Families Military Family Lifestyle Survey takes a proactive look at the current needs and priorities of military families and service members and what can be done to support them. e goal of the survey is to provide concrete data and information about prominent aspects of the military lifestyle so that decisionmakers can make informed choices on their behalf. After all, the rst step in recognizing the unique and substantial contributions military families make to this nations security and collective strength, is to understand their perspective and experiences while serving. Each year, Blue Star Families collects data and disseminates the results so that stakeholders can address military families with a timely and relevant perspective. In doing so, decision-makers may be able to target eorts for better reception, applicability, and successful outreach to military families in communities across the nation and around the world. is report details the results and
analysis of the fourth annual Blue Star Families Military Family Lifestyle Survey. e survey, which was conducted online in November 2012 with more than 5,100 military family respondents, was designed to reveal key trends in todays military families by examining, among other things, feelings of stress, nancial readiness, spouse employment, eects of deployment, levels of communication, behavioral and mental health, wellbeing, and civic engagement. e results provide clear insight into the unique lifestyles of modern-day military families after more than a decade of continuous war. For this survey, Blue Star Families was honored to have the assistance of the following partner organizations: e American Red Cross, e Armed Forces Services Corporation, e Armed Forces YMCA, Association of the United States Army (AUSA), Hiring our Heroes, Military.com, the Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC), Military Ocers Association of America (MOAA), the Military Spouse Corporate Career Network (MSCCN), Military Spouse Magazine, National Guard Association of the United States (NGAUS), National Military Family Association (NMFA), Operation Homefront, Our Military Kids, Points of Light, Reserve Ocer Association (ROA), Student Veterans of America (SVA), the United Service Organizations (USO), Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW).
e widespread distribution of this survey through our partners and others in the military community greatly contributed to the high level of response and helped achieve a comprehensive sample of military personnel and their families.
METHODOLOGY
e 2013 Survey was designed by Blue Star Families with extensive input from military family members and advocates, subject matter experts, and policymakers who work with military families. e survey is intended to facilitate a more complete understanding of the experiences of military families so that communities and policymakers can better serve their unique needs, thereby making voluntary military service sustainable. Blue Star Families worked with other national military community organizations who distributed the survey to their own constituents and communities. Possible biases, introduced through the utilization of a non-probability sampling method, include over- or under-representation, which means that this sample cannot be considered a direct representation of the entire military family population. Nevertheless, this surveys breakdown of the active duty force, age, and geographical location are comparable to actual representation of the military community according to the DoD 2011 Demographic Report.1 e survey was administered online through SurveyMonkey.com and generated a self-selected, convenience sample. Of the 5,125 military family members who started the survey, 62% (3,153) completed the entire questionnaire (in totality, there were 143 questions possible). e number of respondents varies per question based on applicability to the respondent (for example: relationship to the service member, presence of children, employment status). e survey was accessible online from November 1 to December 3, 2012. Many sections of this survey were only available to spouse and self (service member) respondents; specically the sections on childrens deployment experiences, military child education, the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools, Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP), childcare, spousal relationship and deployment stress, mental health issues, suicide prevention, spouse employment, and nancial literacy. Questions about the most important military life and national issues, services to military families, social media use, civic engagement, and public policy on the survey were available to all survey respondents.
e majority of questions on the survey were optional, allowing respondents to skip any questions with which they felt uncomfortable or that did not apply to them, and many questions allowed respondents to select all applicable responses. erefore, as mentioned above, the actual number of responses per question varies throughout the survey. Any comparisons that are made between this years data and previous years data are intended only as comparisons of absolute percentages; statistical signicance was not assessed. Additionally, the wording across years has been revised on various questions. us, trends across years have not been universally assessed. e survey questions were a combination of multiple choice and open-ended questions to allow for diverse responses from participants.2 e quantitative questions were analyzed using SPSS PASW Statistics v20. Does not apply and prefer not to answer responses were coded as missing, and multiple response sets were created for questions that allowed more than one response. Frequencies and basic crosstabs were performed in order to perform univariate and basic bivariate analyses. e open-ended questions were analyzed using a two-part qualitative coding method: the analysts applied descriptive coding as a rst-round coding technique3 and then used axial coding on the second round.4 e themes that resulted from axial coding were then recombined with the quantitative results to act as exemplars in the complete survey report, providing deeper explanation.5 Due to the large volume of open-ended responses, a team of analysts coded the data. e team ensured that each individual coding eort was consistent with the interpretations from the other analysts by discussing the methods by which the themes and categories were understood and dened.6 en, one analyst acted as the codebook editor by evaluating both the fractured and axial coding from each analyst to achieve consistency.7
SURVEY RESPONDENTS
e respondents to this survey represent a diverse crosssection of military family members from all branches of services, ranks, and regions, both within the United States and on overseas military installations. Survey respondents were asked to identify their primary relationship with the military based on the service member through whom they receive DoD benets, if applicable. Sixty percent of the surveys respondents had more than one immediate family member a liated with the military, and 73% were military spouses (i.e., they were married to a
9

Demographics: Age, Rank, Branch, Service
service member from any branch of service at the time they took the survey). Sixteen percent of the respondents were service members, 6% were parents, and 4% were children of service members. Seventy-four percent of the survey respondents were a liated with active-duty military personnel, 3% percent were a liated with the Reserve, and 5% with the Drilling Guard, Drilling Reserve, or the Inactive Drilling Guard. irteen percent were a liated with retired veterans, and 4% with non-retired veterans. Sixty-ve percent of respondents were a liated with enlisted service personnel, and 5% of survey respondents resided on overseas military installations. Survey respondents residing in the United States, while fairly evenly distributed across the country, were slightly more concentrated in the Southeast and West. Eighty-four percent of respondents were female, and 67% of respondents had minor children living at home. Seventeen percent of respondents identied themselves as a minority race or ethnic group. irty-eight percent had completed an associates degree or less, and 30% had completed a bachelors degree. Sixty-four percent of survey respondents were between the ages of 25 and 44.
ese demographics outline a diverse group of individuals from a variety of backgrounds, drawn together by their commitment to service and the experiences they share of supporting someone in the military.
Demographics: Residency
10
SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS
e key concerns identied by more than 5,100 military family members who responded were: pay/benets, with specic emphasis on changes to retirement benets, military spouse employment, the eects of deployment on children, and issues surrounding military child education. Additionally, the 2013 survey also uncovered valuable information on the following areas: relationships, suicide prevention, nancial literacy, caregiving, communication, and public policy. is years survey also continued to track how military families support each other, seek out resources, and stay connected to their communities and to their service members.
Respondents also reported positive aspects of their childrens experiences in military life: 73% of respondents noted the adaptability of their children, 68% saw an increase in independence, 67% reported an increase in resilience, and 59% reported an increased sense of pride.
MILITARY CHILD EDUCATION:
PAY/BENEFITS AND CHANGES TO RETIREMENT BENEFITS:

irty-ve percent of respondents listed pay/benets as their top military family life issue while 22% of respondents cited changes to retirement benets as their top concern. When veterans were asked about concerns related to separating from the military, their top concerns were employment possibilities and loss of income.
Seventy-nine percent reported that their schools engaged in parent/teacher conferences, and 77% reported they were informed of school activities. However, 38% reported that the school was not aware of military life experiences such as transition and deployment and 39% did not feel their school was responsive or proactive to unique military situations. Fifty percent of respondents were unaware of the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children and only 29% of respondents reported that their school adhered to the interstate compact. Fortyseven percent of respondents were not aware of the School Liaison Ocer (SLO) program and only 25% reported that their schools were utilizing the Military SLOs. irtythree percent reported their school currently utilized peer support programs, and 36% stated that deployment had negatively a ected their childrens participation in extracurricular activities.
MILITARY SPOUSE EMPLOYMENT:

Sixty-eight percent of spouses reported that being a military spouse had a negative impact on their ability to pursue a career. Of the 61% who were not currently employed, 52% wanted to be. When asked their reasons for not working, 80% mentioned job market alignment. Twenty-three percent of spouses had faced challenges with their state licenses, certications or other professional qualications due to military-oriented moves across state lines at some point in their service members career. Additionally, 26% currently operate their own business.
ADDITIONAL FINDINGS OF NOTE SOCIAL MEDIA:

Seventy-two percent of respondents indicated that social media was important in communicating with their service member during deploy ment. Facebook became the most popular method of deployment communication in the 2013 survey, surpassing email 85% to 81%. Overall, 88% of respondents used social media to connect with friends or family who did not live near them and 61% used social media to connect to other military families. Additionally, while 61% said their service members unit used email to disseminate information and 52% said the unit used Facebook, only 37% said they used social media to get updates from the unit. e top three resources for online information-gathering were split between ocial and non-ocial sources - Facebook, Military OneSource, and Military.com.
EFFECTS OF DEPLOYMENT ON MILITARY CHILD EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING AND DEVELOPMENT:

Sixty-seven percent of respondents reported having one or more children currently living at home who were under the age of 18. Of those children, 93% had lived at home during the deployment or routine separation of a military parent. When asked how their children had been aected by the military parents deployment, anxiety was a predominant response. irty percent of respondents sought out mental health counseling services to address the negative emotional impact of deployment. Of those who sought services, 72% found it helpful. Sixty-one percent chose a civilian provider, while only 23% chose a military provider.
FINANCIAL READINESS AND HEALTH:

Sixty-ve percent of respondents said they experienced stress related to their familys current nancial condition. e top three obstacles to nancial security were: spouse employment (49%), uncertainty in military life (45%), and frequent moves (40%). When asked about nancial education within the military community, only 12% of respondents received their nancial education through
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service member training, while 90% said they wanted greater emphasis on preventative nancial education. Eighty-seven percent of respondents used a household budget and 70% had checked their credit report or score in the past 12 months.
EXCEPTIONAL FAMILY MEMBER PROGRAM (EFMP):

Nineteen percent of respondents had a family member enrolled in the EFMP. e top two supports for families were the chain of command and the local community. Respondents strongly agreed or agreed that some of the main challenges associated with moving for families with exceptional family members were nding new doctors (68%), obtaining educational accommodations (66%), and access to respite care (66%). Sixty-four percent of respondents reported diculty accessing community -/ state-based supports such as Medicaid waiver benets.
PTS/TBI/COMBAT STRESS:
Twenty-three percent of all respondents and 24% of spouse respondents reported PTS symptoms in their service member regardless of diagnosis whereas 19% of service members reported having a PTSD diagnosis and 21% reported symptoms regardless of diagnosis. Of those who reported that their service member had exhibited symptoms of PTS, 57% reported not seeking treatment through a military provider. Five percent of service members reported having been diagnosed with a TBI, and 4% of spouse respondents report their service members had exhibited symptoms of a TBI, regardless of diagnosis.
PUBLIC POLICY DONT ASK DONT TELL:

For the second year in a row, a majority of respondents felt the repeal of Dont Ask, Dont Tell (DADT) had no impact on a variety of issues. Seventy-ve percent of respondents said it had no impact on their service members ability to do his/her job and 72% said it had no impact on their service members desire to re-enlist or stay in the military. Sixty-ve percent said it had had no impact on their service members morale, and 62% said the repeal had no impact on mission readiness or national security. Seventy-one percent said it had had no impact on their desire to attend social functions and 64% of spouses said it had had no impact on their military support groups morale.
MILITARY SUICIDE:
Nine percent of military spouses and 18% of service members reported they had ever considered suicide. Of those who reported having considered suicide, 30% of service members and 23% of spouses report not seeking suicide support services. irty-seven percent of respondents felt that the Department of Defense was handling the issue of suicide poorly. Respondents rated the following three topics as very important in preventing suicide: 1) counselors who understand the military lifestyle, 2) counselors receiving specialized training in how to work with service members and veterans, and 3) increased availability of mental health services.
VOLUNTEERISM AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT:

Engagement is a strong dening characteristic of the military community. Eighty-seven percent of respondents believed all Americans have a responsibility to participate in national service and 72% supported their service members continued military service. Ninety-two percent of respondents were registered to vote, and 91% voted in the last presidential election. While 83% expressed satisfaction with the military lifestyle, 23% were enthusiastic promoters of military service, meaning they would recommend joining the military to their child or another young person. Active recommendation of service was captured using the Net Promoter Score methodology, which categories organizational loyalty into three types of people promoters, passively satised, and detractors.
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TOP ISSUES FOR MILITARY FAMILIES

Top Military and National Concerns for Families Driven by Economic Concerns
In 2013, the top three military family issues surround concerns of nancial well-being. ey are: Military Pay/ Benets (35%), Change in Retirement Benets (21%), and Spouse Employment Opportunities (19%). While spouse employment aects nancial security throughout the service members career, all three of these issues can be considered key to making a smooth nancial transition out of the military. is is particularly noteworthy as estimates point to over one million service members transitioning o of active duty over the next ve years. Following these scally-oriented concerns, the next two top issues for survey respondents center on the children of service members, specically the impact of serial deployments (17%) and educational opportunities (16%). Similar to the general population,8 nancial uncertainty has become an important issue for survey respondents. When assessing the possibility of transitioning from active duty, service members top concerns were employment possibilities and loss of income. It is important to note that these two concerns have remained the same from 2012 to 2013, regardless of whether the service member had less than or more than twenty years of service. When assessing their top national concerns, the economy and job creation ranked number one and number two, respectively. It is clear that, regardless of time left in service, military members are focused on the state of the economy and concerned about their nancial future.
also ranked Spouse Employment Opportunities second among current top military issues, while it was ranked third by all respondents. With interrupted education and career paths, the ability of spouses to contribute to a steady income stream during military service is often a challenge. Military spouse income contributions after active duty service may also be impacted due to lack of work experience, continuity of work experience, and level of education. e top ve military family concerns help to identify some of the priorities and concerns of military families and shed insight into how policymakers can apply programs and resources towards these goals. It is notable that this years survey saw, for the rst time, Operational Tempo/ Deployment drop out of the Top 5 Military Issues. After over a decade of war, the military community has seen a drawdown of the total number of troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, and an increased focus on deployments in the Pacic. ese operational trends could be associated with the change in respondents priorities and may suggest that military families understand the DoDs shift in focus and the need to align resources with national defense needs. Furthermore, it is important to note that while the necessities of transitioning and adaptability have always been central themes and challenges of the military lifestyle, change is especially imminent inside the military community today and includes budget cuts, sequestration, changes to force structure and pay and benets, and greater emphasis on the Pacic in addition to the Middle East. ese changes, coupled with the unknown, nal outcome of sequestration, cause a level of uncertainty with unspecied impact on the military community as well as the nation itself.
Top Military Family Issues: Common Threads
Satisfaction with Services

Respondents in the 2013 survey oered insight into their satisfaction levels with specic DoD services. Using a 5-point scale, no service presented averaged above a four. Commissary/Exchange services had the highest average rating of 3.6; chaplain services received a 3.5; MWR received a 3.4; access to health care received a 3.1; and DoDEA received a 3.1. e remaining services received rankings in the 1-2 average, including EFMP, nancial counseling, Child Development Services, marital/family counseling, quality of base housing, mental health services, and availability of base housing. Although both spouses and their active duty partners worry about job creation, concern among spouses exceeded that of service members by six percentage points. Spouses Many services received a not applicable answer; EFMP, DoDEA, and Child Development Services were not applicable to more than 50% of respondents. Access to
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health care was not applicable to only 8% of respondents and Commissary/Exchange was not applicable to just 9%, which suggests these services were the most utilized by respondents of this question. Understanding how individual services factor into satisfaction with overall military experience is an important consideration in light of the budget shifts currently in progress. Understanding all components of service, including eective delivery and relevancy to military families are important factors in determining what changes should be made and what should remain the same. Both negative and positive experiences should be weighed, understanding that incremental changes in delivery, based on user feedback, can make a big dierence in increasing satisfaction levels.
FAMILY WELL-BEING
THE MILITARY CHILD
Effects of Deployment on Emotional Well-Being and Development
An entire generation of children was born into and is growing up in a time of war, and we are only beginning to understand the subsequent eects on their development and emotional well-being. For military families, these concerns loom especially large. Of the approximately two million children who have a parent with an active presence in the military, 1.1 million are school-aged.9 Parents continue to express concerns about their childrens longterm emotional well-being and development as a result of their experiences as a military child. However, respondents also cite positive traits they feel their children develop from military family life, including adaptability, independence and resilience. In this survey, 67% of respondents reported having one or more children, currently living at home, who were under the age of eighteen. Of those children, 93% have lived at home during the deployment or routine separation of a military parent(s). In general, respondents reported that they are able to continue to support their children through deployments and separations; 77% of parents reported high levels of condence that they are able to set developmentally appropriate routines and responsibilities for their children. However, survey respondents worry about the long-term consequences of the military lifestyle. Separation is hard on the relationship that you have with your children. People thank us for our service, thinking about our lives that we risk. e truth is the relationship with our loved ones is what we really risk every day. - Air Force service member Research focused on the impact that the military family lifestyle has on children has continued to increase. e Center for Naval Analysis held its second Military Children Conference, Promoting Resilience in Military Children through Eective Programs, in November 2012, bringing together expert practitioners and academics to provide frameworks for improving programs for military children and the resilience of those who use them. Additionally, the National Institute of Health recently sent out a call for research to specically examine the long-term impact of parental military deployment and reintegration on children in military families.10 While previous research
Recommendations for DoD Service Satisfaction Tailor resources and funding to match the services family members are most likely to utilize focusing on local community-based public/private partnerships Leverage informal networks to support formal programs and services Ensure that providers at the local level and at multiple points of entry are trained to understand the needs of military families (e.g., chaplains and religious leaders, primary care doctors) Involve military families in reviews of programming and services for evaluation of effectiveness, usage, and satisfaction. Proactively provide transparency, context, and rationale for shifts in funding to manage military family expectations and enable contingency planning Further review all facets of the military health care experienceincluding, access to care, quality, and interaction with provider networksto provide understanding of military families experiences, use and satisfaction of their military health care benet across location, branch, and type of insurance plan (e.g., TRICARE Standard, TRICARE Prime), availability of needed services, and barriers to care
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suggests that most military children are resilient and adapt well to the military lifestyle,11,12,13 military children can be exposed to life events that are extenuating and consequential, which can put them at risk for psychological and academic concerns.14,15 Adjustment to deployment can be particularly problematic when it includes multiple deployments, longer deployments, increased stress at home in addition to the deployment, and higher parental stress of the non-deployed parent.16,17,18 I am afraid that he will begin to feel abandoned by his father no matter what measures I take to ensure he feels loved by him while he is deployed. - Army spouse In an open-ended question that explored parents concerns about raising their children in the military lifestyle, nearly one-third of the respondents noted these same problematic eects on their relationships and also to their ability to parent. e stress on the caregiving parent leads to suboptimal parenting, which is going to cause problems for military children for years to come. - Army spouse Children display the psychological eects of deployment and separation in a variety of ways. When asked how their children have been aected by the military parents deployment, anxiety was the predominant response. Sixty-eight percent of respondents reported that their children had experienced separation anxiety, and 63% of respondents reported that their children worried. Very young children may show this anxiety by clinging to parents, crying more, regressing to previous behaviors, and acting out more. School-aged children may be irritable, distracted, or have trouble sleeping.19,20 In this survey, 48% of respondents noted irritability in their children, and 45% of respondents noted that their children had diculty sleeping or nightmares. Being distracted can a ect school performance, and 38% of respondents reported that their children experienced diculty concentrating. irty-six percent of respondents reported aggressive reactions, and 31% of respondents reported signs of depression in their children. Additionally, school-aged children can be irritable, distracted by worry, or have trouble sleeping.21,22 My youngest daughter freaks out when we are late picking her up. She has had emotional outbreaks at school. She is afraid we are going to leave her. - Army service member
Other times, it is the lack of symptoms that can cause parental concern. While research suggests that most military children do not show clinically signicant symptoms, 23 there are times when mental health services could be warranted. irty percent of respondents sought out mental health counseling services to address the negative emotional impact of deployment. Of those who sought services, 72% found it helpful. Sixty-one percent chose a civilian provider, while 23% chose a military provider. Respondents tend to choose civilian providers for a variety of reasons, such as a concern for privacy, availability and even the location of available military providers. Adding to the diculty, many military providers do not specialize in working with children and adolescents and thus often refer these families to civilian providers in the community. is last PCS with a 6- and 9-year-old has been especially hard since we went from a great school in South Carolina to a less than stellar school here in California. I feel that the educational variables are too wide when it comes to moving from one place to another. - Marine Corps spouse Over the past year, civilian mental health professional organizations have heard the call for additional support for military families, and have answered by oering professional training that emphasizes military cultural competence, including the strains, stressors, and specialties involved in supporting military service.24,25 Additionally, many university training programs are oering coursework in understanding veterans and military families so providers have the appropriate knowledge before even entering into professional practice.26 While parental deployment may have some adverse eects on military children, it is also important to note the positive eects. Seventy-three percent of respondents noted the increased adaptability of their children due to a military parents deployment. I am grateful that they will understand that home can be anywhereit isnt one building, one place or one kind of experience. I know they will grow up understanding that there is more to the world than one state or county, and that people who are strange or di erent are no better or worse than anyone else. I am especially grateful that they are being raised in an environment where success is still largely measured by personal accomplishment independent of notions of class, race, gender and ethnicity. - Army spouse
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Sixty-seven percent of respondents noted an increase in independence in their children, and 65% of respondents reported an increase in resilience as an eect of a parents deployment. In fact, 59% of respondents reported an increased sense of pride related to experiencing a parents deployment. Our family has been able to know real-life heroes and be humbled by their stories of overcoming injuries or handling the loss of a loved one in combat. We are able to teach our children about self-sacri ce and patriotism rst hand. - Army spouse Families that are supported by their communities experience less deployment-related stress.27,28 However, when asked if they felt the support services provided by the DoD are adequate to support military children in dealing with deployments, 61% of respondents disagreed. In the open-ended responses, parents discussed: (1) the need for additional mental health support services, (2) increased services for those who are living o and away from bases (especially during times of a deployment as an individual augmentee), and (3) greater access to respite care. I limit the activities my kids can be involved in during deployments mostly because I get exhausted. If respite care (drop-in day care, etc.) were available and easy to procure, I would be more inclined to keep my children at their normal activity level. I am more than willing to pay for such a service, but there isnt any kind of respite care in my community, and I live near a major military base. - Army spouse Regarding community support, 56% of respondents reported that the community embraced opportunities to help military families deal with deployments. However, as one Air Force spouse noted, sometimes community members may be hesitant about reaching out: Long distance is too hard for kids, and often other local families will have reservations about encouraging friendships with our kids because they know we are temporary. Family members said they would like to see continued eorts by the community to embrace opportunities for support. One Navy spouse suggested: I would love to see churches or other organizations encourage adopting families/ grandparents for the military families who do not have extended families around. Oer occasional dinners together, provide care for date nights AND include the military family in anksgiving and/or weekend dinners and celebrations.
Children and Deployment: DoD Support Services
Recommendations for Childrens Emotional Well-being and Development Support expanded research efforts to identify specic effects of deployment and adjustment on children, as well as tools that families can use to overcome stressors Provide additional programs to support the caregiving parent and increase positive child relationships along the deployment cycle Work with professional mental health organizations and higher education programs to provide specic training on understanding military families and enhancing military cultural competence
Education and the Military Child

Like civilian families, military families are concerned about the quality of their childrens education, and often nd themselves making tough decisions regarding the best placement for their children to achieve academic success. One Army spouse said, It has been very dicult for my daughters to reintegrate into their new schools, especially when they are not given the credits they have accumulated from their prior schools. In fact, previous research has found that one of the most challenging aspects of relocation is educational disruption.29 e quality of education available is an important benchmark when military families make decisions to relocate, consider living separately (known as geographic bachelor situations, or geo-baching), or even leave active duty service. One Air Force spouse stated, I retired from active duty and my spouse is now geographically separated from the family due to his Permanent Change of Station orders (PCS). e impact on the children and family is what ultimately drove my husband to decide to retire from active duty.
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In line with the reports by the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA),30 58% of survey respondents stated their children attend public schools. While seeking a quality education for their children, military parents also search for schools that recognize and respond to the distinct needs of children of military families.31 Districts with an average daily attendance that includes ten percent or more of military students can apply to receive Federal Impact Aid funds specically set aside for schools with high military student populations.32 Although public school education falls under the jurisdiction of the state government, funding such as the Federal Impact Aid can incentivize school districts to enhance programming and training for teachers to address specic groups such as military-connected children. Both schools are very adamant that students ll out the Federal Impact Aid form to get money from the government for military childrenbut they provide no services. - Army National Guard spouse To this end, DoDEA has oered additional grant opportunities for improving the education of military students and providing professional development for educators to expand their understanding of the day-to-day experiences of the military students they serve. 33 However, given the proposed budget reductions, this funding may be very limited in the future. When respondents were asked in an open-ended question for examples of anything particularly supportive or unique that their schools were doing, the most common theme was nothing. In fact, I have written the school about participating in Month of the Military Child and other events that recognize the unique group of challenges that our children face. No response. My son petitioned his H.S. to support a club he wanted to start for kids of military members and those that support them called the Patriot Club. No response. I am disappointed to say the least. - Army spouse I am a member of Blue Star Families so I have helped our school start an Operation Appreciation program. ere is nothing at our school for our military kids unless I am telling them to do it. It feels like a losing battle sometimes. - Coast Guard spouse Five percent of respondents stated that they home school their children. Nine percent of respondents reported that their children are in private school, with the highest
percentages among the Army and Navy families. In addition to dierent levels of quality, varied requirements from state to state can be stressors for military families and their children as students have to repeat content already learned or miss critical topics as they transition from one location to another.34 Some parents have turned to online resources as a way to have individualized, interactive, and self-paced instruction, and to also have access to courses that might not otherwise be oered in their areas.35 e inconsistency in standards is why organizations such as e Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC) have advocated for common core standards that outline specic skills and knowledge for students K-12 to prepare them for college and future employment.36 Forty-ve states and the District of Columbia have adopted the Common Core State Standards: Alaska, Texas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Virginia, and Puerto Rico have not yet adopted these standards.37 For military families, standards could help reduce educational inconsistencies for students, parents, and teachers as military students relocate to new schools, clarifying expectations at each grade level regardless of location. When my husband was deployed, the school my children were attending did nothing and did not recognize the situation at all. is was in a nonmilitary community and it was very disheartening to experience. - Navy spouse DoDEA schools have also adopted the Common Core Standards, which makes it easier for military children to transfer between DoDEA schools. Ten percent of respondents currently have children attending a DoDEA school, which is slightly higher than the actual reported percentage of military children attending DoDEA schools worldwide (7%).38 Of the 29% of respondents who reported having a child attend a DoDEA school at one time, 95% reported that their children was elementary school age while attending the DoDEA school. Seventy-six percent were satised with their DoDEA experience and 71% of respondents believed that their children were prepared to advance to higher grade levels. My children have been to schools all over the world, and the DoDEA school system has always been better than any we have experienced on the outside. I applaud the fact that the DoDEA schools keep well-rounded curriculum and expose the children to a lot of di erent experiences. My kids are always ahead of their peers when we move back to public schools in the States, in fact two of them graduated early because of their years in DoDEA. - Army spouse
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ese sentiments align with researchers who have found that military children attending DoDEA schools compare favorably to civilian children. In particular, children attending DoDEA schools exceeded national averages on science standardized testing during the 2009 school year, and in 2012, reading and writing scores on the SAT test were higher than the national average.39,40 In this study, 79% percent of respondents reported that their schools engaged in parent/teacher conferences and 77% believe they were informed of school activities. However, 38% felt that the school was not aware of military life experiences such as transitions and deployments and 39% did not feel that their school was responsive or proactive to unique military situations. Because many schools do not create student identiers to track military-a liated children,41 currently there is no ability to accurately collect the data that would assist in addressing the specic needs and challenges of these students. In January of 2013, Texas state senators led legislation to require the Texas Education Agency to create a military identier in the Public Education Information Management System that could assist in better tracking academic progress.42 is example of state tracking could be replicated across the country in similar state education systems. Forty-seven percent of respondents reported that opportunities were given to celebrate and include the military member in the classroom, but many respondents mentioned singular activities surrounding Veterans Day. Information about military service could be incorporated into school curriculum throughout the school year43 and would create opportunities for children to share their diverse experiences as members of a military family in assignments and presentations and provide a means to reduce the military-civilian divide. Sixty-one percent of respondents noted that their school accessed previous school records during school transitions, but 65% reported that they were either unaware or did not believe that their school supported the transfer of credits and access to programming such as Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB). Additionally, 33% of respondents did not feel that the school did a good job creating a smooth transition for their children. While the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children was designed to resolve educational transition issues such as eligibility, graduation, enrollment, and placement for military children, many school districts and parents are still unaware that their states have signed the compact and the provisions that it entails.
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In this survey, 50% of respondents were unaware of the Interstate Compact and only 29% of respondents believed that their school adheres to the compact. Although military installations across the country have established a position for school liaison ocers to coordinate educational opportunities and provide information to schools about military children, 47% of respondents were not aware of the program and only 25% believed that their schools were utilizing the Military School Liaison Ocers. Establishing school connectivity has been identied as a key factor to support academic achievement for military children,44 but only 34% of respondents believed that their school currently oers opportunities for connectedness, such as peer support programs. Programs such as MCECs Student 2 Student and Junior Student 2 Student45 are examples of ways to sustain peer-based support as children transition in and out of schools. ese peer support programs have been shown to be eective in building school connectedness for all children, and can be especially helpful for military children as they transition at a greater frequency than their civilian counterparts.
Additionally, while 61% of respondents felt that the schools did a good job of providing academic and extracurricular support, 36% of respondents stated that deployment had aected their childrens participation. Extracurricular activities are important for keeping students engaged.46 Communities could help support military families by nding ways to support continued participation while a parent is deployed. ere needs to be some type of assistance for working spouses to help their kids take advantage of extracurricular activities (sports, etc). ere was never enough time in the evening after work to do homework, eat dinner, and attend practice without getting stressed out. - Army spouse
Recommendations for Childrens Education Support national legislation to create a military student identier; work with local school districts to ensure accurate tracking of military connected students Support Common Core Standards at the state level and ensure dissemination at the local district level Disseminate specic guidance and provide targeted training on the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children and the school liaison ofcers to military families and educators. Coordinate a targeted messaging campaign to ensure they are aware of these resources Support practical educational research regarding military connected students and disseminate ndings; leverage university, and public private partnerships (e.g., Cooperative Extension, Military Child Education Coalition) Further review non-traditional options such as charter schools and online learning possibilities that could provide greater exibility for military students in transition
Forty-ve percent of respondents also reported feeling supported by their local communities outside the base. While some families may worry about the potential impact on their career if they enroll in the EFMP, 70% of respondents disagreed that being enrolled in EFMP had negatively impacted their military careers. Relocations can be particularly challenging for those who have children with special needs.49 While 72% felt that TRICARE provides appropriate medical care for their families, many respondents reported challenges with access to services during relocations. Sixty-eight percent of respondents struggled with nding new doctors, and 65% reported diculty in obtaining access to respite care as they relocated. Families may also struggle when trying to obtain recommended specialty services that are not covered by TRICARE, such as applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy for children with autism. e unreimbursed costs can cause nancial hardships for families.50 One Navy spouse described this challenge for her family when she stated, He probably wouldve stayed in if he felt that we would not have to spend so much money out of pocket obtaining speech, occupational, and physical therapy for our son. Moving duty stations requires military families to re-enroll in EFMP program services. is means that children may be waiting for months, often times a year, to access services. - Navy spouse If the family is also trying to access state benets such as Medicaid, the lack of waiver portability becomes a challenge since the EFM will be moved to the bottom of the waitlist every time the family moves to a new state.51 Sixty-four percent of respondents reported diculty accessing community/state-based supports, such as Medicaid waiver benets. In addition, 55% of respondents
Exceptional Family Member Program

e Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP) oers support for families that have a family member with a medical or an educational need that requires special services. Similar to the 2012 survey, 18% of respondents have a family member enrolled in the EFMP. e top four conditions reported this year include: 46% with a speech or language impairment, 39% with a developmental delay, 36% with autism, and 28% with a specic learning disability. Navigating the military healthcare system to obtain services can be challenging for caregivers for Exceptional Family Members (EFM). e National Council on Disability47 noted that it is even harder for young parents, those with more than one exceptional family member, those who themselves are exceptional family members, and those with a deployed service member. e chain of command and EFMP base support are important resources to assist in addressing potential barriers.48 Forty-ve percent of respondents to this study felt that their families were supported by their chain of command, and 43% felt supported by the bases EFMP.
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with an EFM also reported diculty nding adequate housing when relocating. Since families often do not know exactly where they will be living when they PCS, families ability to plan in advance can be signicantly inhibited. Finally navigating the educational system can be challenging for families with special needs children. Sixty-three percent of respondents felt supported by their local school systems. Of those with children in the DoDEA school system, 65% felt supported, while 35% percent did not feel supported. Regardless of how supported they may feel in their current schools, relocation can bring an additional set of challenges. e Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) describes guidelines for qualication and requires school districts to provide comparable services when a student moves, but the DoD and each state establish their own eligibility criteria.52 us, there is a variety of ways that each school district can fulll the federal regulations, which can lead to inconsistency as a student moves from state to state or even to a new district. Much like other military children, special needs students may experience another level of discontinuity or gaps in services when relocating.53 In the 2012 U.S. Government Accountability Oce (GAO)54 report on services for children with special needs, the recommendations included establishing benchmarks and performance goals for the EFM and ensuring that school-aged children are medically and educationally screened before being relocated overseas. Similar to the Military Family Needs Assessment data,55 66% of respondents noted that educational accommodations were challenging after relocation. New school districts will honor the previous individualized education program (IEP), but the district has authority to decide how the goals and objectives will be met and it may not be through the same exact program or services.56 In the absence of outside guidance, parents must do their own research and be strong advocates for their children. In addition to school liaison ocers and EFMP case managers, there are a variety of online community networks that can be of assistance such as Military OneSource,57 Specialized Training of Military Parents (STOMP),58 and the Wrightslaw website.59
EFMP Enrollment
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Recommendations for Exceptional Family Member Program Continue to publicize and educate families about the benets of EFMP to reduce myths and stigmas that can make informed decisions about enrolling; work with families to minimize PCS moves the extent possible to reduce the challenges associated with relocation Expand the number of trained TRICARE case managers to assist with health care transitions specic to EFMP family members. Facilitate direct communications between providers to ensure a warm handoff and establish mechanisms to ensure sufcient medications are available during relocations; leverage community based mental health networks to support families outside of military installations Support efforts to enable military families to maintain Medicaid waiver services when they move from state to state Work with civilian providers to ensure continuity of care for EFM as service members and their families relocate and enter into retirement
personnel, 35% percent are married to a civilian with children, 2% are dual military with children, and 7% are single with children. Among active duty service members with children, 42% have children between the ages of 0 and 5, and an additional 30% have children between the ages of 6 and 11 years. Five percent of active duty members are single parents, and among Selected Reserve members (which includes Reserve and National Guard Members) 9% are single parents, 33% are married to a civilian with children, and 2% are dual-military with children. Of those children, 29% are between 0-5 and an additional 30% are 6-11 years old.61
Existing Childcare Resources for Military Families

e DoD oers installation-based childcare options through Child Development Centers (CDC) located on military installations as well as through certied in-home providers on many installations. CDC childcare is oered for children ranging in age from six weeks to 12 years and is based both on availability and specic requirements (e.g., priority is given to full-time working parents and service members).62 However, the majority of military families do not live on military installations.63 In 2004, in order to facilitate military family use of childcare o of installations, the DoD began a partnership with the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (NACCRRA), which works nationally with state and local childcare agencies to ensure that families in every local community have access to quality, a ordable childcare. NACCRRA, through its partnership with the DoD, supports and assists the military across all branches (with the exception of the Coast Guard which receive similar support through a separate childcare subsidy benet) in nding childcare in their local communities, and allows some families access to respite care, nancial support (in the form of a subsidy), and referrals to certied providers.64
CHILDCARE
Military families frequently live apart from family, friends, and familiar neighbors who might otherwise help with childcare responsibilities in the civilian community. Frequent relocation means having to navigate resources in new communities, which may compound diculties in accessing childcare especially in the absence of local references and trusted resources. For example, military families may require childcare services during PCS moves, while seeking employment or housing, or require temporary childcare to handle household duties or medical appointments in the absence of a deployed service member. Finally, in some cases childcare is needed when caring for a special needs child, an injured or disabled adult, or in other situations where respite care might be benecial.60 Childcare options are particularly relevant to military families because there are high percentages of young children with dual-military parents or parents who are deployed or absent. eir needs are slightly dierent from the childcare needs of the civilian community. According to the 2011 DoD Demographics Survey, across all military
Finding Childcare and Utilization

Sixty-seven percent of the respondents in this years survey indicated they used friends and family to locate childcare resources, 26% percent of respondents reported using military child and youth services, 26% reported using local military community resources, and 21% reported using care specic online services (e.g., Care.com, SitterCity). Five percent of this years respondents reported using the NACCRRA partnership to nd childcare.
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Of those who report using childcare, only 3% report using full time installation-based childcare at a CDC. Respondents in this years survey reported that they care for their children full time at a rate of 37%; 14% indicated that they do not require childcare due to attendance at school, and 9% use full time care with a family member. Six percent indicated that they used a private oinstallation daycare, 2% reported using a nanny or homebased day care, 3% indicated they used a part time provider, and 5% reported utilizing after school programs. Ten percent utilize care sporadically (dened as less than four times per month). Childcare Quality Forty-one percent indicated they were unsure about the quality of military childcare. Twenty-two percent of respondents were dissatised or very dissatised with the quality of childcare provided by the military and 37% were satised or very satised. Only a small percentage (3%) of people reported using installation-based childcare and among those, just over one-third reported being satised. Access to Childcare is years respondents cited a number of barriers to accessing childcare, both on and o installations. More than half (53%) of respondents who use on-installation childcare indicated that long waiting lists were the top challenges to securing care at installation CDCs. Six percent reported that they applied for NACCRRA and that the wait list was longer than three months. Given these ndings, long wait lists could be impacting the decision to use both on-installation and NACCRRAassociated childcare. Respondents also noted diculties with the registration process (23%) and distance of a facility from their home (21%). One fth of respondents reported they were unaware of where to go for assistance in nding childcare.
Satisfaction with Childcare Options, Quality of Childcare, and Access to Childcare

Childcare Options Responses related to satisfaction with childcare options were notable in that slightly more than one third of respondents (34%) were unsure about their childcare options. irty-three percent reported either being satised or very satised with the variety of options for child care services the military provides to you and your family, while 33% were dissatised or very dissatisfed.
Children and Childcare: Finding Childcare
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Recommendations for Childcare and Looking Ahead

Respondents in this years survey indicate they most often utilize friends and family when nding childcare; yet with frequent PCS moves, other more sustainable, consistent, and reliable options may be necessary to help families nd childcare in new locations. is years survey data revealed only a small percentage of families utilizing CDC childcare. Consequently, in recent years, the DoD has continued to expand its partnerships with NACCRRA. ey have developed new o-base childcare options by funding subsidies to use licensed childcare providers through the Military Child Care in Your Neighborhood program, and through NACCRRA partnerships with both SitterCity and KinderCare, both of which are widely available (note: these benets are not available to Coast Guard families).65 Inconsistency in the way the NACCRRA benet is administered across branches and lack of awareness about the program may decrease the odds that military families will utilize it. A thorough review of how the NACCRRA program is administered, advertised, and accessed by military families could shed light on how to increase military family awareness of the program and how to more eectively administer the benet. It could also help to
determine whether the barriers mentioned by families are systemic or isolated.
Recommendations for Childcare Assess the number of military families needing childcare to determine need for on- and off-base childcare for both full and part time care. Continue to expand NACCRRA partnerships with community based childcare resources to improve access, availability and proximity of childcare for military families Target messaging to locations where military families are most likely to look (e.g., Child and Youth Services, Military Community Resources) for childcare
CAREGIVING
e physical, emotional, and nancial strains of caregiving can be overwhelming without some support. Yet, many military families prefer caring for their loved one, enabling them to remain at home, versus having them receive care elsewhere (e.g. a hospital or rehabilitation center).66 us, some military families nd themselves caring for a child or
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family member who would otherwise require permanent placement in a facility outside of the home (e.g., a military spouse caring for her wounded service member or for a physically or mentally challenged minor child or elderly parent). Specically, caregivers commit to providing personal care, emotional support, and advocacy for any period of time during recuperation or rehabilitation or, in the case of more severe injuries, permanently. eir responsibilities vary depending on their specic situation, but may include tasks of daily living (e.g., bathing, eating, mobility, or communication) or managing their loved ones healthcare needs, including managing medications, attending medical visits, maintaining medical documentation, and advocating for the patient across their continuum of care, to name a few. I need help...provide me with the assistance that I need to help my husband! - Army spouse, Caregiver Recent research from the Pew Research Center suggests that the number of families providing care for more than one generation will continue to increase as the U.S. population ages and Generation Xs competing caregiving responsibilities increase.67 Many military families, in particular, are caregivers for more than one family member (e.g., a spouse caring for a child in the EFMP and also for a wounded warrior, or a military spouse who is simultaneously taking care of an aging parent and a returning service member) and are sometimes referred to as the sandwich generation.68 Caregivers to service members face unique challenges. For example, higher levels of child emotional and behavioral diculties have been reported by caregivers with a deployed spouse than those reported by parents/caregivers in the general population.69 Caregivers for military service members also frequently serve multiple roles: as caregiver of physical and mental trauma, as case manager navigating a complex healthcare system, and as a nancial and legal representative while parenting young children and trying to maintain employment outside the home. Among this years respondents, 12% percent reported they were caregivers to a service member (active duty, reserve, and veterans). A 2013 exploratory study commissioned by the Elizabeth Dole Foundation and conducted by RAND Corporation estimates that there are 275,000 to 1 million men and women who care for and have previously cared for wounded, ill, and injured service members.70 Work with spouses instead of leaving them out of the process. Most of the time it feels like they are working against me and not working with me. - Navy spouse, Caregiver
Respite Care
Among this years respondents, 6% report using some type of respite care that provides short-term, temporary relief from caregiving, minimizing fatigue, one of the primary, immediate consequences of caregiving.71,72 Previous research has noted that if respite care is used by the caregiver to maintain or develop socially supportive relationships, caregivers are more likely to maintain those relationships after respite care has ended. Accordingly, the
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use of respite care may lessen the physical, emotional, and nancial burdens of caregiving over the long term.73 Help me nd ways to reduce the stress so I dont feel so all over the place. - Army spouse, Caregiver Like their civilian counterparts in the general population, respondents in this years survey report using respite care for a variety of reasons; the most common reasons were to regroup and rejuvenate (76%) and to run errands (63%). Other respondents reported using respite care to build relationships with other members of their family (63%) and attend doctors appointments (52%). Some additional reasons for using respite care were to allow respondents to go to special events (51%), sleep (44%), attend regularly scheduled events for other family members (26%), engage in hobbies (23%), and obtain higher education (22%). Finally, 11% of respondents said they made use of respite care to prevent harm to either themselves or their children. ese nding suggests that more information is needed about the exact type of support that is needed by caregivers within the military population. Such information could identify risk factors that might impact the desire to harm oneself or others (including children) and determine how to target caregivers for primary prevention/intervention eorts once those risk factors are identied.
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depleted assets and/or accumulated debt, and 41% left the workforce in order to provide care.76
Recommendations for Caregiving Develop a community-based system of support for caregivers, especially for those in the sandwich generation, which includes increasing awareness and availability of specic resources directed at providing increased emotional and/or nancial support Support targeted research and dissemination of results, leveraging public/private partnerships (e.g., University, private foundations, military treatment hospitals) to examine the various impacts of caregiving for service members on their family, relationships, nancial, mental health and well-being; Leverage research to develop evidence-based training and resources specic to military caregivers Utilize research to develop targeted education, training, and awareness for command leadership and family resource groups on the added stressors of caregiving to the military family; include education on how to identify caregivers who might be at risk for harming themselves or others Develop caregiving as a specialized area of military spouse employment and entrepreneurship opportunity; provide training and certication similar to home-based childcare
Of the respondents who reported using respite care for a family member, 62% required care for a child and the majority of those (70%) were children with special needs. Seventeen percent of respondents reported using respite care for their aging parents. Sixty-four percent of survey respondents indicated they had used a family member or friend to provide the respite care while, 33% used in-home care with a provider who had training related to their family members special needs (e.g., either specialized training, a certication, or a LPN/RN). Fifteen percent used respite providers within a care facility. Caregivers who do not receive regular breaks from caregiving can experience health, social, and nancial consequences over time.75 Seventy percent of caregiver respondents who utilized respite care reported high or very high day-to-day stress levels as compared to 51% of non-caregivers. Caregivers in this study also reported being under more nancial stress than non-caregivers, and seventy-six percent of respondents reported that their personal nancial condition caused them some stress or a great deal of stress as compared to their non-caregiver counterparts (64%). is nding is consistent with recent research that found that 62% of caregivers for veterans
DEPLOYMENTS, WELLNESS, AND DAY-TO-DAY STRESS

Frequent moves, separation from friends and family, worry about the service members safety, and increased responsibility at home are stress-inducing experiences faced by the majority of military families. Service member deployment is one of the most notable stressors faced by military couples and families.77 In this survey, military spouses were asked about their day-to-day personal stress level, their stress level during deployment, and their ability to cope during each.
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2013 MILITARY FAMILY LIFESTYLE SURVEY REPORT Personal Stress Level During Deployment
Not surprisingly, spouse respondents reported higher stress levels during deployment. irty-nine percent reported either much more or somewhat more (40%) stress than usual and only 16% reported the same amount of stress as usual. Less than 5% reported less stress than usual. irteen percent of spouse respondents reported low day-to-day stress (not during a deployment), as compared to 6% who said they had low stress when their spouse was deployed. Fifty-two percent of spouses said they experienced high or very high stress even when their spouses were not deployed, but also indicated they were able to cope. Ten percent of spouses who reported high or very high stress outside of deployment and also indicated they had diculty coping.
Spouse-Reported Use of Support Services During Deployment

Forty percent of spouse respondents reported not having sought formal support services during their service members most recent deployment. Overall, spouses use of support services during deployment is consistent with their reported coping. at is, while spouses report a high level of stress, in general, they also report coping well. Spouses in this study chose informal support services such as family and friends (53%) over ocial or formal support systems such as installation support groups (10%). Online support forums were used by 24% of the respondents and 16% reported accessing information on dealing with deployment in brochure form. Eleven percent of spouses reported seeking counseling for support during deployment. Installation support groups, deployment classes, non-prot resources, and chaplains were each utilized by 5% or less of the respondents. It is worth mentioning that there are very few resources that focus specically on the needs of military spouses, and there is a limited amount of research that has focused on their specic needs across the deployment cycle.78
Day-to-Day Stress Level and Coping Ability During Deployment

When spouses were asked about their ability to cope with stress during a deployment, the majority of spouses who reported high or very high stress (54%) also reported the ability to cope. A smaller group of spouses (15%) reported that they experienced high or very high stress and reported having diculty coping, possibly representing a group towards which support and resources could be targeted. Finally, 24% of spouses reported low/ manageable stress levels and reported being able to cope most of the time, which may represent temporary or intermittent stress, experienced by most people at least some of the time. Overall, spouses reported more stress during deployments, but predominantly reported an ability to cope with that stress.
I wish I understood the Military OneSource referral program better. I thought I was using it to see my preferred counselor but it turns out I wasnt covered and had to pay. I would have rather paid to see the counselor I wanted then get a free service from someone I did not want to see. - Air Force spouse
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Either civilian or military psychologist or other experienced and educated professional--in our area, there is at least a one-month waiting period to get real, professional help and family members cant seek help from military clinics at all. - Navy spouse
Spouse Relationship and Well-Being

Previous research on marital satisfaction within military couples has drawn inconsistent results, but marital dissatisfaction appears to increase with the number and length of deployments.79 Yet, despite increasing demands on military families in recent years, rates of marital dissolution appear to be similar to the general population. e DoDs 2011 Demographic report shows that although all service branches have seen an increase in divorces compared to 2000, the Army has had the greatest increase in percentage of divorces (+1.5%), followed by the Navy (+1.3%).80 Eighty-six percent of respondents in this years survey reported being very happy or happy in their relationship. e remaining 14% reported being either unhappy or very unhappy. Sixty-eight percent of respondents reported working out arguments with little or no diculty whereas roughly one third (32%) of respondents reported having some or great diculty in working out arguments. ese numbers support the need for the DoD to continue oering classes and services aimed at improving communication and focusing on healthy relationship behaviors, regardless of where the family is in
the deployment cycle. Currently, marriage retreats, classes, and services are primarily provided by the Chaplain Corps (e.g., Strong Bonds), but several additional family-focused programs have been initiated in recent years to help promote resilience among families. For example, Families Overcoming Stress (FOCUS) is an evidence-based program, administered and developed through University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and oered at multiple military installations for both Marine and Navy families. e program is designed to support and increase resilience and communication within military families.81 If married, spouses and service person need couples counseling after the deployment. Spouse need to be aware of all the trauma the service person has been through to understand the changes of service persons spirit and mind. You need to provide counseling for the children as well. More retreats for the families so they can work on issues as a family, learn to be supportive and understanding of service persons actions / issues. Dealing with anger management issues from within the whole family. Looking for signs of substance abuse, how to deal with it and get help for everyone. War a ects the whole family.- Army spouse
Service Utilization for Marriage Counseling

ere is some evidence that a strong marital relationship has an impact on a service members decision to seek treatment. Service members appear more likely to seek treatment for posttraumatic stress if they are satised within their marital relationship.82 us, there may be hidden benets for encouraging couples to seek treatment and involving family members in service members treatment. Seventy-four percent of respondents reported never having sought marital counseling services. Of those who had sought marital counseling, slightly more respondents reported using a civilian provider (15%) as compared to 11% who reported using a military provider. Satisfaction levels with both military and civilian providers were roughly equivalent, but cannot be directly compared due the variation in the number of respondents in both categories. Across both civilian and military providers, respondents satisfaction with services was high with almost 73% and 71% reporting being satised or very satised with their civilian or military provider (respectively), and 27% reported being either dissatised or very dissatised for both military and civilian providers.
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ere were plenty of resources, but if there was ever a chance it could get back to the company, I wouldnt consider it. I think that most military families have the same mindset. Personal issues are made public through gossip and word of mouth. No one wants their family to be in that position. - Army spouse Counseling will not x problems regarding the fact that my husband is never home even when he is not deployed. - Army spouse When respondents were asked about which military resources they used for marital counseling, Military OneSource was cited most often (24%), followed by service-specic Military Support Centers such as Fleet and Family Services or Army Community Services (21%) and chaplains (18%). Military hospitals and clinics were used by 11% of respondents, military treatment facilities (MTF) by 10%, and the Family Assistance Program (FAP) by 6%. When respondents were asked to cite reasons for not seeking services for marital counseling, the majority (75%) stated that they did not feel it was necessary. Among both spouses and service members, spouse refusal/ resistance and concerns about condentiality were the additional top reasons for not seeking marital counseling services and were each cited by 7% of respondents. ese reasons are consistent with other research as top barriers to mental health treatment within the military population.92
Military Family Separations for Reasons Other Than Deployment

In addition to deployments, military families experience routine separations throughout the lifecycle of military careers (e.g., training, workups, detachments, unaccompanied tours of duty). In fact, in this survey, deployments accounted for roughly half of the time families spent apart. e other half was related to training, workups, detachments, and other support-oriented activities. As a military spouse getting a masters degree in a specialized eld one of my biggest concerns is the inability to stay in one location for more than three years. Even elds that are easily transferable, such as teachers, still have to start from the bottom up every move. I have seen so many spouses quit working due to sheer frustration with the job hunt every six months to three years. e reduced earning power is drastic. We have bene ted from our military service, but we will not choose to pursue this lifestyle after his time is up. - Navy spouse Additionally, while the majority of respondents indicated that they had not chosen to live separately, or geo-bach, some respondents had chosen to live apart from their spouses for a variety of reasons. e top reason given for geo-baching was spouse employment, reported by 17% of respondents. Family support (11%), child (12%) or spouse education (10%), and the inability to sell a home (9%) were other top reasons for living separately. Respondents could oer an open-ended response to this question and provide their own reason for living separately. ese responses fell into the following categories: (1) nancial/cost of living (2) legal issues that include separation, impending divorce, or custody issues (3) medical care for a family member (4) short or unaccompanied duty tours (5) issues related to status as a domestic partner (e.g., partner could not move with service member due to unrecognized or non-marital status), and (6) issues with citizenship or visas.
Communication During Deployment

e quality of communication during deployment has been associated with improved family functioning.83 e frequency of communication has also been examined and there is some indication that the frequency of communication may help improve the at-home spouses general well-being.84 For example, a recent study conducted by the REACH program at the University of Arizona found that e-mail was the most frequently used form of communication used by active duty spouses and had the strongest association with general well-being of the athome spouse.85 e majority of spouses in this survey report being able to communicate frequently with their spouses during deployments, with 25% reporting that they communicated with their service members daily. Forty percent were in touch with their service members a couple of times a week, and 14% reported communication once a week. Two-percent reported communicating less than once per month.
Reported Service Branch Support for Military Lifestyle Issues

Respondents were asked to rate their service branchs sensitivity to a variety of key family-related issues including: (1) maintaining contact during deployment (2) awareness of support services (3) preparing families for deployment (4) spouse career and (5) cutting orders around school schedules. e single highest response to this question was related to command sensitivity to spouse employment issues. Fifty-four percent reported that their
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commands were not at all sensitive to working with you/ your service member to benet your spouses career. Responses related to preparing family members for deployment (27%), and maintaining contact during deployment (26%) through service members command were endorsed as very sensitive by the percentages shown in parentheses. No choices were endorsed very sensitive by more than 27% of respondents. Dierences across branches were not compared due to large variation in sample sizes across responses.
23% respectively. Conversely, 64% described their reconnections with their spouses/partners as easy or very easy. Fifty percent described their reconnections with their children as easy or very easy. Respondents reported their reconnections with the following people as easy or very easy: co-workers (71%), friends (70%), extended family (66%), neighbors (61%), and parents (46%). ere was very little variation in respondents reporting those same reconnections as very dicult or dicult, ranging from 14% (co-workers) to 18% (friends).
REINTEGRATION
Reintegration Challenges
At the time of this survey, roughly 68,000 troops were deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. As 2014 approaches, we expect the number of deployed troops to decline, yet the lingering eects of 11 years of war have created notable long-term public health issues.86 Likewise, proactive contingency planning for service members, veterans and their families will be needed as they transition from military to civilian life and into civilian communities. At the same time, civilian engagement will become critical as military members and their families move away from installations and into predominantly civilian communities. Service members, veterans, and their families who have long-term physical or mental health needs will be uniquely impacted. e transition from active duty status and the possible loss of access to military healthcare and installation services could uniquely impact those service members and family members who are dependent upon regular interventions or therapy. I think factors in the lives of our military members as well as the families should be taken into consideration. I think there should be monthly check ups for members who come back from deployment for at least 6 months (Longer if needed.) I think the higher ups should be more involved with the members that are going through pre-deployment and make sure the members and their families know of all bene ts available during a deployment and if something should go wrong the things that are available to help! - Air Force spouse When service members were asked to describe their reconnections following their last deployments, they described reconnections with spouse/partner and child as the most dicult of those relationships presented. Reconnection with spouses/partners and children was described as either very dicult or dicult by 28% and
Service Member Transition Concerns

When asked about the transition from active duty to veteran status, 36% of respondents said the transition was smooth and 10% said it was very smooth. However, more than 50% reported that their transition was dicult (35%) or very dicult (19%). When asked about using transition resources, 47% reported using family and 46% reported using other military veterans. Other resources included Veteran Service Organizations (29%), G.I. Bill benets for education (25%), Transition Assistance Program (TAP) classes (25%), and resume writing workshops (15%). When asked about translation of Military Occupational Specialty (MOS), 8% reported that their job designators translated into civilian licenses/ certications and 14% reported that employers desired their MOS. ese ndings suggest the need for a closer look at the transition process, including current resources like the Transition GPS programming, and how they are communicated and made available to active duty service members transitioning to veteran status.
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Recommendations for Supporting Family Members During Deployment and Reintegration Utilize formal support networks (e.g., military commands, installation specic resources) to support informal support networks at the local level where military families tend to seek support Identify the specic needs of individual family members separate from their families. In particular, very few services are targeted solely to military spouses independent from their children and service member spouse; engage and encourage specic training in military cultural competence for community based mental health professionals Begin to identify at risk family members by conducting targeted research on this population Leverage university research programs and engage public and private partners to conduct targeted research, and disseminate evidence-based ndings to stakeholders in the military community Practice primary prevention across the military health system, targeting those who are coping poorly; recognize and identify vulnerable military families and provide timely intervention Continue to train civilian mental health providers, ensuring military cultural competence so there is a cadre of trained professionals available to work with military family members regardless of where they reside
BEHAVIORAL AND MENTAL HEALTH

So called invisible wounds such as mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have become hallmarks of the Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) conicts. ey have been the focus of research, programs, and mental health policy for service members, veterans, and their families.86 For this survey, respondents were asked about TBI and PTSD symptoms as well as the services sought for each. Additionally, respondents were asked about PTS or posttraumatic stress (symptoms related to trauma exposure) and about their own experiences with suicidal thoughts, the services utilized for suicide prevention, the DoDs response to suicide, and their recommendations for improving suicide services within the DoD.
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Posttraumatic Stress (PTS)

Mild TBIs (mTBI) are caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head or, in the case of a severe TBI, a penetrating head injury, which disrupts the normal function of the brain. Exposure to improvised explosive device (IED) attacks is a common cause of mTBI among OEF and OIF veterans. As of February 2013, the Defense Medical Surveillance System (DMSS) and eater Medical Data Store (TMDS) showed that there have been a total of 219,921 mTBIs
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PTS and PTSD: Reasons for not Seeking Treatment
within the DoD worldwide between 2000 and 2012, accounting for 82% of all traumatic brain injuries.87 Five percent of service members reported having been diagnosed with a TBI, and 4% of spouse respondents report their service members had exhibited symptoms of a TBI, regardless of diagnosis. Previous estimates show a 19% prevalence of mTBI among those deployed in OIF and OIF conicts.88 PTS, or symptoms of trauma, can occur after someone experiences a traumatic event like combat, assault, or disaster, but PTS does not constitute an ocial psychiatric diagnosis. PTSD is a psychiatric diagnosis and constitutes a specic combination of symptoms lasting for a specic period of time.89 In this survey, 19% of service members reported having a PTSD diagnosis. When spouses were asked about the symptoms in their service members, just under a quarter of spouse respondents (24%) reported that their service members had displayed symptoms of PTS regardless of diagnosis as compared with 23% or all respondents and 21% of service members who reported they had exhibited PTS symptoms. Previous estimates of PTSD among OIF and OEF service members range from 13% to 20%.90 Of the respondents who reported that their service members had exhibited symptoms of PTS, 94%
indicated that these symptoms were related to the service members military service. Respondents who reported symptoms of PTSD were asked about their use of support services from military and civilian providers. Forty three percent of respondents reported that they or their family had sought intervention or treatment through a military provider for symptoms of PTSD or PTS. When respondents were asked about their preferences for military or civilian providers for issues related to PTSD, 32% preferred a civilian versus 24% who preferred a military provider. Fourteen percent reported having no preference. One-fth of respondents (20%) indicated they would prefer a peer who had been through similar experiences in addition to a provider, which supports the DoD and VA eorts to provide peer-based intervention services for persons diagnosed with PTSD. A recent report released in April 2013, conducted by the Government Accountability Oce (GAO) revealed that only an estimated 39% of civilian mental health care providers were accepting new TRICARE patients, compared to an estimated 67% of civilian primary care
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providers and an estimated 77% of civilian specialty care providers. is report revealed that civilian providers awareness and acceptance of TRICARE diers by location type. Specically, civilian providers in prime service areas, (meaning that they have civilian provider networks) were less aware of TRICARE and less likely to accept new TRICARE patients. us, to ensure availability of providers access to care for TRICARE patients, mental health providers may need targeted information about TRICARE focused on increasing awareness and knowledge among mental health providers combined with policies and procedures that encourage them to accept new TRICARE patients for mental health care and minimizing barriers.91 Previous research has shown that stigma is one of the top reasons military service members do not seek mental health services.92 In this survey, among those who reported symptoms of PTS or PTSD and did not seek treatment, 50% cited condentiality/career concerns as a reason for not seeking treatment. Twenty-ve percent cited spouse refusal or resistance, and an additional 24% said they did not think treatment would help. ese same concerns were echoed within open-ended responses about treatment seeking. e should treat their troops like human beings and not like numbers. Most supervisors dont care about their troops, they are just worried about making rank. e supervisors/leadership should be trained more on knowing the signs of suicide. e stigma of going to mental health should be erased from everyones mind and should be encouraged for troops to seek help if they need it without reprisal. e leadership needs to treat their younger troops as if they were their own children, not baby them but care about them genuinely, - Air Force spouse I have seen a lot of o cers and NCOs who dont take enough time understand what is going on with their soldiers. Its a huge deal when to take the time to understand or try to nd out why your soldier is screwing up all the time. I have personally seen time and time again soldiers acting out because of something going on with them and no one taking the time to understand the situation. My husband is only an E5 and I have had several wives thank my husband for cutting their husband some slack and taking the time to understand the situation. Not all soldiers who screw up are bad soldiers sometimes they just need someone to take the time to try and help them. - Army spouse Respondents were asked Have you, your service member, or other military family member, to your knowledge, ever considered committing suicide? Respondents who answered yes were then asked to select from a number of options related to support services they, their family members, or service member had used. Responses from service member and military spouses were extracted and compared. For both groups, counseling was the top choice for suicide support, with 36% of service members and 43% of spouse respondents reporting that they had sought counseling. Twenty-four percent and 36% of service members and spouses, respectively, reported relying on family and friends. Conversely, 30% of service members and 23% of spouse respondents reported not seeking services at all. Primary care providers were utilized by both service members (29%) and spouses (20%). Seventeen percent of service members and 19% of military spouses utilized chaplains. Given the reported use of primary care providers and chaplains by both service members and spouses, persons in these roles may play an important gatekeeping role in assessing, identifying, and referring suicidal persons to the appropriate support services to the extent they are trained in this role and have the necessary resources available to make timely referrals.
Service Member Suicide

In recent years, much has been written about the increasing rate of service member and veteran suicide. A recent RAND study focused on military suicide found that in 2008, close to 12% of active-duty military personnel reported having seriously considered suicide in the past.93 Statistics suggest that the rate of suicide within the military has increased steadily since 2008.94 Recent reports have suggested that the military suicide rate has been as high as one per day, and in 2012, there were 349 reported service members suicidesa record high.95 Several factors consistently appear to relate to suicide in both military and civilian populations. For example, two-thirds of people who have made suicide attempts have a history of depression, one-third have visited a primary care doctor in the ninety days prior to making a suicide attempt, and a large proportion report having had some diculties with a relationship in the month prior. Access to rearms or other lethal means also appears to be a contributing factor.96 In this survey, 18% of service members reported having ever considered committing suicide and 6% reported that a military family member had considered suicide. Conversely, 76% of service members reported they had not considered suicide.
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among military family members.85 Known risk factors related to suicide within the civilian population include depression and substance abuse as well as other factors like limited social support, isolation from friends and family, barriers to accessing mental health treatment, and cultural norms that discourage seeking treatment for mental health care.97 Specic risk factors that predict suicide among military family members are not yet known. However, prior research has suggested that mental health diagnoses (e.g., depression) for military spouses increase during deployments.98 Improve Behavioral Healthcare - both access and quality. I am a spouse and I can only speak to the behavioral health care available to family members. If it is at all representative of what service members are getting, it is no wonder that it is ine ective. Wait times for appointments are long. Providers come and go compromising continuity of care. e receptionist sta has the same general attitude that Ive found prevalent on military installations -- similar to your typical airline gate agent -- condescending and dismissive. Shouldnt they have some sort of sensitivity training to deal with people in crisis? Army spouse After the release of the 2012 data, Blue Star Families recommended that the DoD begin to track military spouse suicide. More recently, the NMFA released its legislative agenda for 2013 and echoed this recommendation: Mandate tracking and reporting on military family member suicides. Anecdotal reports indicate the number of military family suicides is growing. We cannot address the problem until we know its extent.99 To our knowledge, at the time of this report, no mechanism has been established within the DoD to track military family member suicide. Based on the 2012 and 2013 survey ndings, which show respondents reported suicidal ideation at 10% and 9% respectively, we again recommend that military family suicide be monitored and tracked, thus enabling a more comprehensive examination of the problem, identication of primary prevention needs, and targeted resource allocation.
Spouse respondents also reported using Military OneSource (12%) and Suicide Hotlines (6%). Seven percent and 11%, respectively, of service members reported using these same resources. Likewise, 7% of service members and 13% of military spouses used online resources. Other resources included as choices were non-prots and military family life consultants, both of which were used by 5% or less of respondents (both service members and spouses). Respondents were also asked to denote the helpfulness of the suicide services they had utilized. Of those respondents who had used services, 70% indicated the services they received were helpful and the remaining 22% described the services they received as unhelpful. Likewise, respondents were asked to rate the DoD on How is the DoD handling the issue of service member suicide? ree percent of respondents rated the DoDs response as excellent, and 37% rated it as poor. e largest portion (40%) rated the DoDs handling of the issue of service member suicide as fair.
Military Family Suicide

In this survey, 9% of spouses reported they themselves had considered suicide, while 85% reported they had not. Whereas much attention has been paid to the service member and veteran suicide rate in recent years, relatively little attention has been given to suicidal risk or behavior
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Recommendations for Suicide Prevention Engage and encourage family involvement (including spouse, partner, siblings, parents) when a service member or a military family member is in distress Begin tracking suicides among military families to establish a baseline and identify the scope of the problem. A lack of data for the number of military family suicides limits the DoDs ability to understand and prevent the occurrence or appropriately allocate resources Ensure that primary care providers, command points of contact for families, clergy, and traditional mental health professionals are trained to identify and refer for suicidality both among service members and military family members Ensure that service members, veterans, and military families have seamless access to mental health care (e.g., there are providers trained to work with military families and there are resources for child-care); minimize barriers to accessing care (e.g., wait lists, referrals, inconvenient appointment times) Provide targeted training to civilian providers about the TRICARE system and ensure the availability of qualied civilian mental health providers
FINANCIAL EDUCATION
Financial education and counseling in the workplace can reduce personal nancial stress, which, in turn, has been shown to increase workplace productivity and performance.102 Recent studies have shown that nancial education is benecial for household decision-making and is correlated with successful retirement.103,104 However, only 12% of respondents indicated that their nancial education was provided through service member training. And, while 47% of respondents said their units support nancial readiness through educational programs, 90% said a greater focus should be put on preventive nancial education. Fifty-four percent knew how to access nancial resources within their units and 82% of service members agreed that their spouses should be included in nancial readiness courses. In 2003, the DoD formed a Financial Readiness Campaign whose mission is to provide nancial education, resources, programs, and support to service members and their families. Non-prot organizations such as the Better Business Bureau, the Institute of Consumer Financial Education (ICFE), and the FINRA Foundation have partnered with the DoD to oer nancial education programs specically for service members. Oering additional preventive nancial education within commands for both service members and their spouses appears to be a way to improve nancial literacy among military families.
FINANCIAL READINESS AND THE FUTURE

Service in the armed forces frequently presents unique nancial challenges that can adversely impact long-term nancial status, military careers, security clearances, and life after service nancial issues are among the top concerns of military service members and their families.100 e top three obstacles to nancial security as identied by respondents in this study were: spouse employment (49%), uncertainty in military life (45%), and frequent moves (40%). Sixty-ve percent of respondents said they experienced stress related to their families current nancial condition. is is of particular importance within the military community because workplaces already have heightened stress-inducing aspects, and high stress levels can, in some cases, have a negative impact on overall psychological well-being, workplace productivity and performance.101
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FINANCIAL HEALTH
Despite uncertainty in the military lifestyle and the frequent impact on nancial readiness, military families exhibit positive nancial behaviors as compared to the general population.105,106 Eighty-seven percent of respondents report using a household budget, and 70% say they have checked their credit reports or scores in the past twelve months. Forty-four percent report they have only two to three credit cards, and 63% owe less than $5,000 in credit card debt. Twenty-one percent of respondents owe nothing at all. Forty-nine percent have emergency funds set aside to cover expenses for three months in case of sickness, job loss, economic downturn or other emergencies.107 Seventy-four percent of respondents participated in the Servicemens Group Life Insurance (SGLI) program oered through DoD with coverage of $400,000, and 55% of respondents report not carrying additional life insurance for the service member. Forty percent of respondents report that they carry renters insurance, and 52% carry
homeowners insurance. Fifty-four percent of families carry spouse and/or dependent life insurance. Only 9% of respondents carry spouse disability or long-term care insurance. Although 87% of military families use some vehicle for retirement savings, the act of saving for retirement appears to be challenging. Of those who do save for retirement, 44% use the rift Savings Plan and 31% had an Individual Retirement Account (IRA). Military spouses are saving at a lower rate than the general population and less than service members: only 7% have saved for retirement through a military spouses 401(K) and 5% saved for retirement through a military spouses dened benet plan or pension. irty-nine percent of respondents said spouse unemployment prevented them from saving for retirement, and 13% said frequent moves prevented them from saving for retirement. Of those who report not having a retirement savings plan, 60% said they do not make enough to save for the future. According to Deloittes Retirement Survey, a majority of Americans (58%) do not have a formal retirement savings and income plan in place.108
HOME OWNERSHIP
Overall, approximately 65-70% of service members live in o-installation housing.109 In this survey, of those who lived o-installation, 50% of respondents own a home, 41% own their primary residences, and 9% currently lease their homes to tenants. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in the 4th quarter of 2012, the home ownership rate nationwide was 69%.110 Of those military members or families who own a home, 70% felt they were in good shape with their mortgages, whereas 19% owed more than the current value of the home. Twenty-four percent rent their primary residences and 19% of respondents live in on-installation housing. Of those who rent, 40% cite frequent relocations as the number one reason for not owning a home, while only 13% cite the uncertainty in real estate as the primary reason for not owning a home. Fourteen percent cited the prohibitive costs of housing near their current duty stations and 11% said their nancial situations prevented them from qualifying for a mortgage. e Military House Privatization Initiative (MHPI) is a public/private program where private sector developers may own, operate, maintain, improve, and assume responsibility
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for military family housing and has developed as a cost saving solution to several problems concerning housing for service members and their families.111 In this survey, 53% of respondents were aware of the program and 44% said they were very likely to consider privatized housing during their next PCS.112 Forty-nine percent said the quality of privatized housing was good or excellent when compared to traditional housing. Nine percent of respondents who are homeowners have taken advantage of federal programs designed to help with underwater mortgages or renancing. Seventy-nine percent of those who sought mortgage relief did so through the Home A ordable Renance Program (HARP), Home Assistance Program (HAP), and simplied renancing. Underwater mortgages still appear to be an important concern for military families even though the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has been working to address hardship assistance programs. In 2012, the CFPB provided guidance to mortgage servicers regarding military homeowners with PCS orders. e results in this study support its guidance that the general uncertainty in the military lifestyle, frequent moves, and military spouse employment challenges are the primary obstacles to nancial security in military families. However, these unique circumstances do not release military families from their nancial obligations. Mortgage servicers are expected to comply with military homeowners requests for assistance and not engage in deceptive and fraudulent practices.
USE AND CONFIDENCE IN BENEFITS

According to the VA, spouses and children of service members currently comprise one-fourth of Post-9/11 G.I. Bill users.113 Use of the education benets by spouses (an increase of 70%) and children (an increase of 13%) is growing at a faster rate than service members and veterans (an increase of 13%).114 In this survey, when asked about plans for the use of Post 9/11 G.I. Bill benets, 29% of service members planned to transfer them to a spouse or dependent child; 6% percent had already used or were currently using the education benets for the service member; and 17% of service members planned to use them in the future. At the time of the survey, 12% of service members had already transferred their education benets to their spouse or dependent child. ese results support a corollary nding of this survey - that saving for college is dicult for many military families (27%). e ability to transfer educational benets to a spouse or dependent may be a strategy military families are using to help pay for college expenses in the face of other nancial obstacles.
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In April 2013, the Army Times reported that service members will now incur, across the board, an additional four-year service obligation if they request to transfer their Post-9/11 G.I. benets on or after August 1, 2013 to a dependent.115 With these changes quickly approaching, it is important that service members and their families are aware of the consequences and impact of transferring these benets through proactive outreach and transparency through their military leadership. Lastly, respondents were only somewhat condent that their pay and benets (34%), education benets (33%), and the healthcare benets (31%) would be available for use when they need them. ese results echo last years ndings that showed uncertainty in access to previously earned healthcare benets was one of the top concerns service members had about transitioning out of the service.
spouses have lower wages and work fewer hours than comparable civilian peers.118 RAND has also consistently found that, spouse employment is an essential source of income for most military families.119 Spousal employment is a central concern to military families in maintaining nancial wellness and to DoD in achieving readiness and retention goals. In this survey, 68% of spouse respondents reported that being a military spouse had a negative impact on their ability to pursue a career; only 8% thought it had a positive impact. ese numbers are consistent with RANDs ndings within their military spouse employment research.120 Additionally, other research indicates that military spouses will settle for lower-paying, less desirable work early on rather than continuing to search for more suitable jobs because of their limited time in each employment market and because employers may perceive them as migratory and be hesitant to hire them.121 In this survey, 58% of spouse respondents felt they had not gotten a job or they had been treated dierently in the workplace because of their military spouse status. Interestingly, 7% of spouses reported that being a military spouse had helped them with recent job applications, suggesting there is potential to increase military spouse hiring via campaigns that raise employers awareness of military spouse strengths and attributes.
Recommendations for Financial Readiness Encourage greater emphasis at the command level for preventive nancial education opportunities for military families. In particular, ensure there are opportunities for military spouses to be included in these discussions for added benet Expand awareness of the new Ofce of Service Members Affairs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and its programming designed to help service members and their families Develop community-based initiatives to provide unbiased nancial education and prevention programs to military families
SPOUSE EMPLOYMENT
Military spouse employment is a key contributor to families overall satisfaction with their military lifestyle.116 Prior research indicates that spousal satisfaction with the military lifestyle is a signicant predictor of service member retention.117 Blue Star Families survey respondents have consistently identied military spouse employment challenges as a top concern. is years survey results align with ndings from other research conducted by RAND and DoD where, e available evidence is remarkably consistent in nding that the majority of military spouses are employed, although they have diculty nding jobs; employment is correlated with satisfaction with a military lifestyle, although military
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Of the 61% of military spouses who were not currently employed, more than 52% want to work and an additional 21% were unsure, suggesting the continued need for support and policies that lower the barriers to military spouse employment. Despite challenges with job market alignment and the impact of the military lifestyle on their careers, 39% of military spouses are employed outside the home. Spouses employed outside of the home work across industries: 19% work in the non-prot sector, 29% work in the public sector (government or other public agencies) and 52% work in the private sector. Working can be very frustrating as a spouse. I have turned down numerous promotions due to PCSs. Its impossible to move up; Im constantly starting at the bottom when I look for employment. My passed-up promotions cant go on my resume. - Air Force spouse Overall, throughout their military a liation, 22% of spouse respondents have encountered employment challenges arising from licensure or certication requirements. Of the spouses who have experienced challenges, 13% had not yet seen improvement in licensure portability despite living in one of 23 states that had passed a Military Spouse Portability law (At the time the survey was given, 23 states had passed legislation or an executive order aimed at reducing diculties for military spouses serving in professions with state license and certication requirements).124 An additional 16% were living in states that had not passed the legislation, and 8% reported improved employment outcomes due to their current states adoption of Military Spouse Portability initiatives.
Childcare and Spouse Employment

Fifty-three percent of spouse respondents indicated that nding and paying for quality childcare was a reason for not working. While childcare challenges are also frequently cited as an obstacle to civilian employment, the long, unpredictable work hours and frequent deployments required of service members make childcare an especially signicant challenge to military spouse employment. Although on-base childcare initiatives have grown in recent years, survey results indicate that growth has not kept up with demand. Among respondents citing childcare as a reason for not working, 34% identied childcare as too expensive and 11% reported an inability to locate suitable childcare. Furthermore, the array of regulations and requirements imposed by military base childcare units (e.g., complicated waiting list policies) is a barrier to accessing childcare. One frequently cited childcare challenge impacting spouse employment is that access to on-base childcare is dependent on a spouses employment status, yet spouses are unable to obtain jobs without rst having access to reliable childcare. Among the broader population, utilization of childcare is tied to employment status, age of children, a ordability, and perception of availability of quality childcare options.125 us, when childcare is unavailable, unaordable, inaccessible, or childcare options are unknown, spouses fail to see employment as a viable option. e survey results suggest that spouse employment outcomes are likely to improve should childcare options be accessible for currently unemployed spouses.
Reasons for Not Working

Military spouses experience some of the same career challenges as their civilian counterparts, but they also face additional obstacles to pursuing employment that are specic to the military lifestyle.122 Among the civilian workforce, decisions about where to work and live tend to be based on maximizing economic advantage or maintaining existing personal networks. In contrast, military spouses frequently relocate to duty locations with variable economies that may not host opportunities that align with their education and skills. Moreover, research indicates that employers may have negative associations of military spouses as employees, perceiving them as temporary due to frequent moves or unreliable due to service member deployments that require changes in work status to accommodate the needs of the military family.123 Spouses indicated that job market alignment is the biggest hurdle to consistent employment and career growth. Eighty percent of spouses reported that they are currently not working due to poor alignment with the local job market, meaning they are either over or under qualied for employment in their current geographic areas or they have expertise in a eld that is not relevant to the economy at the current duty station. Additionally, military spouses in overseas locations are often prohibited from formal employment as a result of Status of Forces agreements between the U.S. military and foreign governments. Twenty-eight percent of spouse respondents were not currently working because of a PCS and 16% cited challenges with transferring professional licenses or certications to a new state.
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Military Spouse Entrepreneurship

Self-employment has several characteristics that make it attractive to military spouses. Some spouses prefer selfemployment because it allows them to manage their workload in accordance with their service members demanding schedule. Additionally, options to work virtually and without geographic restrictions are increasing for military spouses, thus enabling them to remain employed despite frequent interstate or overseas relocations. Military spouses operate a wide range of businesses, and the number of entrepreneurial initiatives and the breadth of businesses is likely to increase in the future. Several veteran and service member initiatives, including the Small Business Administration (Patriot Express Loans), American Corporate Partners, Florida State University, Syracuse University, and other entrepreneurial boot camps, focus on providing resources to transitioning service members to help them engage in successful entrepreneurship. ese types of resources and services have only recently begun including military spouses such as Inc. Magazines Military Entrepreneurs Program, Hiring Our Heroes Military Spouse Business Alliance, and the Kaufmann Foundations FastTrack. Twenty-six percent of spouse respondents in this survey have either been self-employed or have operated their own businesses. An additional 35% are interested in pursuing self-employment or their own businesses, while another 20% are unsure. ese survey responses suggest signicant opportunities to expand military spouse employment by expanding spouses access to entrepreneurship training initiatives such as those open to transitioning service members.
e survey results suggest that while no one military spouse employment program is likely to comprehensively address all challenges to spouse employment, they do appear to be of help to a substantial portion of the spouse community and especially to those actively seeking employment. Promoting the current spouse employment resources that help identify virtual work opportunities would address the primary challenges faced by spouses whose skills are not aligned to their local job markets, including those spouses who are living overseas and those experiencing frequent geographic relocations. e survey responses also indicate that successful military spouse employment initiatives incorporate and leverage the experiences of military spouses, rather than attempting to t military spouses unique lives into traditional employment programming. For example, 55% percent of respondents cite volunteer experience on their resumes as relevant to their professional skills. Initiatives that translate the current attributes and experiences of military spouses, such as volunteering and resiliency, into marketable skills are more likely to increase spouse employment. e survey results also suggest that spouses do not perceive support for their careers from the DoD. When asked about sensitivity to spouses careers, across branches, 54% reported that their branch was not at all sensitive to working with a service member to support a spouses career. However, 14% reported that their branch was very sensitive. Further, when asked about living separately as a result of a PCS for voluntary reasons (geo-baching), spouse career was the top reason, cited by 17% of respondents. is suggests an opportunity for service branches to improve both service member and spouse satisfaction with the military lifestyle by increasing support for military spouse careers and employment programming.
Military Spouse Employment Resources

e resources to support military spouse employment are currently growing; these resources include ocial DoD initiatives, non-prots, and private sector ventures. However, survey responses indicate that military spouses remain unaware of many employment assistance programs. For example, only 30% of respondents were familiar with the Military Spouse Employment Partnership (MSEP), housed within the Department of Defenses Oce of Military Family and Community Policy. Twenty-eight percent were aware of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundations Hiring our Heroes initiative, now in its second year. Forty percent of respondents were aware of at least one branch-specic spouse-oriented employment resource.
Recommendations for Military Spouse Employment Identify programs and corporate partners who are interested in having virtual employees so that geography and frequent relocation do not limit spouse career progression Support military spouse businesses by incentivizing existing DoD employees and customers (including AAFES, major contractors, and procurement personnel) to include spouse small businesses Continue to lobby states to pass and implement the Military Spouse Portability Licensing Act
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MILITARY-CIVILIAN INTERSECTIONS AND CONNECTEDNESS

MILITARY FAMILY COMMUNICATION
Social Media Use and Military Family Communication
Military families continue to use social media with high frequency, and more so than civilians.126 Social media is used by military families to connect to their service member and to one another, as well as to seek out information and resources. Ninety percent of respondents aged 18 to 54 use social media, compared with less than 90% for the same civilian age group.127 Additionally, military families use Facebook considerably more than their civilian counterparts, at 96% versus 67% respetively.128 LinkedIn use is also higher, (32%) among military families compared to 20% among civilians.129 When broken down by age, 63% of 18 to 24 year old respondents indicated social media is very important, compared with 47% of 25 to 34 year olds, 52% of 35 to 45
year olds, 40% of 55 to 64 year olds, and 48% of those 65 and older. In general, social media use varied based on the relationship to the service member, a trend consistent with previous Military Family Lifestyle surveys. Spouses used social media more to connect with other families and with friends who do not live near them. Other family members use social media primarily to connect with their service member. As might be expected, the majority of respondents who said they communicated with their service members every day during their last deployment also indicated that social media was very important or somewhat important. Only 16% of respondents who communicated with their service members every day during their last deployment said that social media was not at all important, compared to 40% of those who communicated with their service members less than once a month, and 28% who communicated once a month.
Social Media Platform Use (by Branch and Age)

Seventy-two percent of respondents said that social media was important in keeping them connected with their service member during deployment. Among social media platforms, Facebook was reported as the most frequently used method of communication (85%) for the rst time, followed by e-mail (81%). is year, video chat came in at 62%, Skype at 53%, and instant messenger was at 47%.
Popularity of Common Social Media Sites
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Facebook usage during deployment closely followed the general social media age trends, with the highest usage among 18 to 24 year old respondents and the lowest among those 65 and older. Conversely, landline use was highest among those 65 and older, while lowest among 18 to 24 year olds, mirroring trends in the general population. Email use was consistent across age groups, and video chat was higher among 18 to 24 year olds than among those 65 and older.
Military Family Members and Different Social Media Habits

While more than 50% of all family members labeled social media as important, the specic platforms used for communication during deployment vary by relationship to the service member, which is consistent with previous surveys. e vast majority of children and parents of service members report that social media is important, at just over 90% each. However, only 70% of spouses reported the same. e lower percentage among spouses may be a reection of the ways service members allocate their available time to communicate with family members. With limited telephone time, spouses and service members place a higher value on speaking with each other than on using social media for communication. In fact, spouses and domestic partners had higher usage of cell phones and video chat compared to other family members. With internet access potentially more available than telephone access, deployed service members may have more time to communicate with other families members via social media. For example, siblings report had by far the highest use of Facebook when their service members are deployed. Spouses and parents used postal service more than others, while domestic partners used instant messaging the most. In an open-ended question about social media use, family members reported using Facebook in a variety of unique ways to keep up with their service members. e platform allows families to maintain their connections during a deployment because of the ease of contact, regardless of timing, location, or having to be logged on simultaneously. Parents log on to see pictures of their service members and stay connected through wall postings. Some parents also use it to learn more about the service to which their child has committed. Our family was already using it to keep in touch with friends and family across the country. Once our daughter entered military service, we used the Facebook groups AFWingMoms and Basic Military Training to keep up to date with what she was doing and to make the once-aweek call more relevant. - Air Force spouse In addition to being used for maintaining relationships, many spouses said Facebook is a popular way to connect with and learn from their peers. I live in a community without many military wives, and I use it to connect with military wives and have made very good friends through this medium, said an Army spouse. A Coast Guard spouse said, Most of my family and friends are currently using
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When examined by rank, Facebook usage was highest among junior enlisted service members (E1-E4), while email usage was highest among eld grade ocers (O4O6), and Google Voice was highest with general grade ocers. Instant messaging and video chat was highest among warrant ocers, and cell phone usage was highest among company grade ocers (O1-O3). Social media use by branch varied greatly, which can perhaps be partially attributed to the unique demands of each service. e majority of respondents from all branches indicated that social media use during deployment was important, with Army National Guard the highest at 80%, followed by Army (78%), Air Force (74%), Air National Guard (72%), Marine Corps (68%), Navy (64%) and Coast Guard (58%). e Coast Guard had the highest percentage of respondents reporting social media as not at all important during deployment, followed by Navy and Air Force. is may be due, in part, to the number and duration of deployments for each branch/service. Postal service use was signicantly lower within the Coast Guard than any other branch, while email and cell phone use within the Coast Guard were the highest. e Coast Guard had the lowest usage of landlines and instant messaging. e higher rate of email and cell phone usage, but comparatively lower rates of postal and video chat use among the Coast Guard was most likely an indication of the type of deployments the Coast Guard experiences. e Coast Guard, Navy and Air National Guard all had the lowest use of video chat, which could be due to the quality of internet connections available during their deployments. e Air Force had the highest use of video chat and Google Voice. ese usage patterns are consistent with previous Military Family Lifestyle Survey ndings.

Facebook. I am also active with several USCG groups to learn about dierent PCS locations, schools, doctors, housing; just general information about the area and base assignments. year, 13% of respondents also reported turning to unit resources and 11% reported using community resources. e majority used social media to look for employment or education resources or opportunities for themselves or their service members. However, 68% said they never use LinkedIn, while just over 10% used LinkedIn once a week or more. Interestingly, 72% of spouses said they never used LinkedIn, compared with 57% of service members.
Recommendations for Social Media Continue to use social media to help families connect with their service members unit, reective of their preference in platform to encourage maximum participation Leverage partnerships with social media outlets to maximize each platform (e.g., using Facebook to report posts about suicide; helping military spouses and service members build networks on LinkedIn)
I belong to over 20 wounded warrior wives groups on Facebook. e help I get from those groups has saved our lives, saved us from homelessness, and saved my sanity! - Army spouse According to the results of the open-ended question, Twitter and LinkedIn were the distant second and third most commonly used social media. LinkedIn is primarily a medium meant for professional connections, as explained by one Army spouse who said, It provides more professional and important updates versus updates of what your friends are doing. Interestingly, Twitter can aord an anonymity that is more dicult on Facebook, according to an Army spouse who said, Twitter is where I feel most connected to military spouses. Twitter is a little more open. I post more there, and so do my friends. I also feel more free to express myself there. Its a bit more anonymous.
Highlight best practices for unit social media (e.g., when is it helpful vs. when is it not helpful) Incorporate social media as an integral part of PAOs training and job functions Cross link important information on social media to reach the broadest possible audience Leverage relationships with corporate partners to provide increased access to social media for military families, increase access to resources, and develop applications that can benet military families regardless of where they live
CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
Engagement and Volunteerism
In the past, researchers have dened community based on concepts of geographic location, political a liation, and even psychological attachments.130 Within the military context the concept of community often crosses the boundaries of geography. However, while military families use technology to feel close to each other and their service members across time zones, they also rely on geographically based connections to plug into resources, information, and support locally. In this survey, geographically and psychologically inuenced engagement was expressed in a variety of pro-social behaviors:
Information and Resource Seeking

Military families reported using a variety of resources to gather information about, and to feel connected to the military community. Consistent with the 2012 Survey, the top three resources were Facebook, Military OneSource, and Military.com. While military families relied more and more on social media to connect with their service members and each other, they are increasingly going o ine for advice (42% in 2013 compared to 38% in 2012). Respondents reported turning to social media for advice; was up to 11% from 8% in 2012, but social media use was still outpaced by those turning to family and friends. is
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volunteerism, relationships with neighbors, voting behavior, and charitable acts. is year, in order to align our research on the civic health of the military community to the National Conference on Citizenships (NCOC) Civic Health Index,131 many questions from the 2012 survey were adapted and/or changed, which makes trending data from the 2012 survey impossible for those questions. Our intent is to develop insight into the military lifestyle as compared to the broader national population, with particular focus on assessing how the benecial eects of service to civil society are manifesting in our military population. is years survey showed that 66% of respondents had volunteered through a formal organization within the last year. Twenty-four percent volunteered 6-10 hours each month, which roughly equates to one traditional full workday. Twelve percent volunteered for more than 30 hours each month, approximately the equivalent of a part-time job. Forty-four percent of military parents volunteered at their childrens school or another educational group, giving further support to the role of schools as a hub of community activity for military families, much like NCOC nds in the general population.132 e top outlets for volunteerism among military families are via military spouse organizations (44%) and other types of militaryrelated organizations (21%). A remaining 21% were split among other volunteer outlets such as religious and faithbased groups. Notably, respondents had strong agreement on the concepts of patriotism and citizenship. e most popular reason for joining the military was to serve his/her country (96%), with educational benets coming in second at 74%. Eightyseven percent believed in some type of national service either via the military or through other national service options. When asked about other civic responsibilities, reporting a crime (99%), paying taxes (98%), voting (97%), staying informed (95%), knowing English (91%), and volunteering (91%) were rated as important. Seventy-two percent supported the continued military service of their service members. Even with the frequent moves associated with the military lifestyle, respondents indicated being tied into their local neighborhoods. Fifty-ve percent said they trust all or most of the people in their neighborhoods, while 34% said that some of the people in their neighborhoods could be trusted. Ninety-two percent of respondents were registered voters, and 91% participated in the last general election. While 23% said they do not cast local ballots because of lack of community knowledge, 53% said they
stayed informed about local politics no matter where their duty stations are. When talking about politics, few respondents actively demonstrate their positions; 88% never participate in marches, rallies, or demonstrations. However, this lack of public positioning should not be considered a general lack of engagement, as 76% do choose to express their opinions in the connes of family or friendships at least once or month or more frequently. e internet also provides an outlet for expressing options about political or community issues, and 41% of respondents participate via this platform at least once per month as well.
Net Promoter Score

For the 2013 survey, the Net Promoter Score (NPS)133 was employed to determine respondents tendency to recommend military service to others. While the NPS approach has been broadly applied in the private sector for over a decade, its application into the service sector is nascent. Depending on the ranking respondents give to the 11-point scale, between the spectrums of extremely unlikely to extremely likely, respondents are assigned into categories of promoters (answering 10-9), passively satised (answering 8-7), or detractors (answering 6-0).
e range of the NPS metric can be anywhere between -100% to 100%, and some benchmarks in NPS do exist in the customer engagement realm. For example, military insurance and banking company USAA has a NPS of 83%. e telecommunications company Mediacom has a -21% score. Overall, our respondents tendency to recommend military service to their children or another young person ranked at -28%. Active duty service members had a NPS score of -17.6%, while spouses of service members had a NPS score of -38.8%. e purpose in shifting this question to the Net Promoter Score is to establish a way of
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segmenting the experience promoters are having with the military versus the experience detractors are having with the military. By understanding the dierence between these NPS groups, the value of the feedback may potentially become more actionable. at stated, continued research to establish driving factors and trending experiences for promoters, passively satiseds, and detractors is largely absent from the literature as it pertains to non-prot or service-based organizations. Many factors could inuence the NPS for the military: stress, nancial stability, civilian support, public policy, services, etc. Until more research is conducted among non-prot and service organizations, we can only state that, in the private sector, understanding what drives NPS and acting upon increasing promoters has been directly correlated to sustainable, long-term relationships and growth.134 A comparable indicator within the non-prot and government sectors - and within the DoD in particular - could be extremely useful in gauging whether the tendency to recommend service to a close family member or young person has implications for the sustainability of an all-volunteer force. public is aware of the impacts of military service on military families. And, 92% disagreed with the statement, e general public truly understands the sacrices made by service members and their families. Pew Research Centers 2011 survey results were comparable and showed 84% of modern-era veterans felt that the general public does not have an understanding of the problems that those in the military face.136
Joining Forces to Bridge the Civilian-Military Divide

is years ndings continue to indicate a distinctive civilian-military cultural divide.135 Eighty-eight percent of respondents disagreed with the statement, e general
Previous research has sought to identify specic mediating approaches for linking and interfacing informal networks with local communities in order to bridge this unfortunate and unproductive gap. Additionally, much recent programming has been developed with the specic aim of decreasing it. e White Houses Joining Forces initiative has been focused on building bridges between the civilian community and military members and their families while
Highlights of Civic Engagement
44
leveraging the best of the public, private, and non-prot sectors have to oer. Having just celebrated its second anniversary, Joining Forces has demonstrated the value of collaboration with successes surrounding military spouse and veteran employment and military child education. However, there is still a long way to go. While traction is being made with regard to awareness of the sacrices made by service members and their families, seven in 10 Americans say that it is just part of being in the military.137
PUBLIC POLICY
Condence in Institutions and Foreign Policy
With regard to condence levels in institutions, general condence is dened as the conviction that everything is under control and uncertainty is low.138 Respondents in this survey had the greatest level of institutional condence in the military (85%), followed by public schools (75%), non-elected public servants (62%), and government and state agencies (58%). And, while elected ocials and the media have, perhaps, the greatest opportunities to contribute to the national dialogue on decreasing the civilian-military divide while increasing trust in institutions, they also have the lowest vote of condence by respondents. A majority of respondents reported no condence or hardly any condence for the media (70%), corporations (56%), and elected ocials (56%). is lack of condence in elected ocials mirrors that of the general U.S. population.139 e low level of condence in elected ocials expressed by respondents is especially worrisome given the unique inuence their decisions have on the lives of service members and their families. For example, elected ocials have a direct impact upon the lives of military families based on their votes on budgetary and national security issues; most recently, this is being experienced as a result of sequestration. Respondents were also asked about their views on several other political issues. When asked about priorities within the global environment, 31% of respondents took an isolationist stance on U.S. foreign policy, agreeing that the United States should pay less attention to problems overseas and focus more on our problems at home. Additionally, respondents were almost evenly split (at 16% and 17% respectively) between military strength and good diplomacy as the best way to ensure peace; this emulates the Pew Research Centers 2012 survey ndings, in which Americans were also divided on this view (53% vs. 43%). Sixty-eight percent of respondents to this survey felt that an equal measure of military strength and good diplomacy is the best way to ensure peace. Future consideration in how corporations, politicians and, media outlets can regain healthy levels of trust and condence is a direction for continued research that could also serve to reduce the civilian-military divide. Particular focus should be placed on the impact of elected ocials and the media to create disproportionate levels of uncertainty for military families.
Impact of the Repeal of DADT

e repeal of the DoDs Dont Ask Dont Tell (DADT) policy, which mandated the discharge of openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual service members, occurred in September of 2011. An overwhelming majority of respondents reported that the repeal has had no impact across a host of issues: 55% reported no impact on service member unit cohesion; 72% percent reported no impact on service member desire to re-enlist or stay in the military; 65% reported no impact on service member morale; 75% reported no impact on service member ability to perform his/her job; 62% reported no impact on mission readiness or national security; 64% reported no impact on military support group morale; and 71% reported no impact on their desire to attend military functions. ese ndings are consistent with last years survey (elded three months after the repeal) as well as a more recent study published by the Palm Center one year after the repeal of DADT. e Palm Centers study reported that, the repeal of DADT has had no overall negative impact on military readiness or its component dimensions, including cohesion, recruitment, retention, assaults, harassment or morale.140 Additionally, the nding that DADTs repeal has not had a discernable impact on military families is supported by previous research on other NATO countries integration of
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LGBT individuals into the armed services. Ocials, military scholars, non-governmental and political leaders, and gay and lesbian soldiers all concur that the removal of the ban has had, to their knowledge, no perceptible negative eect on the military.141 In Israel, lifting the ban had no negative eects on military eectiveness, performance, and unit cohesion; and in Canada, LGBT integration did not cause any decrease in military performance, eectiveness, or unit cohesion.142,143 In February of 2013, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta announced that, under new policy changes that will complete the DoDs repeal of DADT, service members and retirees with same-sex partners will qualify for up to twenty-four new benets beginning October 1, 2013.144 Still unaddressed DoD benets include housing, medical and dental care, and overseas command sponsorship for same-sex partners,145 which are all restricted under the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that denes marriage as the legal union of one man and one woman for federal and inter-state recognition purposes in the United States. e U.S. Supreme Court is currently in the process of hearing an appeal to DOMA, United States v. Windsor, with a ruling expected in May of 2013. While there remain some unresolved areas with regard to this policy change, these survey results conrm current and previous research that indicates that there has been minimal impact on perceptions of military readiness, recruitment, retention, or morale due to the policy repeal. Because of DOMA, my wife and I are unable to receive the same bene ts and services that other married couples get. is has made our lives much more di cult. For instance, since we PCSed last year, I have not been able to nd work. is leaves me without insurance and, because we do not get the dependant BAH and BAS, puts an immense strain on our nances. We do not qualify for base housing and many other programs which could bene t our family. is environment creates a sense of isolation in gay and lesbian troops. e separate treatment is a morale killer. All married service members should receive the same treatment. - Air Force domestic partner
Recommendations for Decreasing the Civilian-Military Divide Encourage veterans and spouses to continue their leadership in public service, especially public sector careers. Build targeted and coordinated efforts at the federal and state levels to recruit them through systematic and proactive partnerships across the public, private, and non-prot sectors Identify qualied veterans and spouses for appointments and task forces at all levels of government Utilize resources like the House and Senate Military Family Caucuses and the Joining Forces initiative to host symposiums, forums, and meetings where military families can provide feedback and input to national leadership, leveraging partnerships across public, private, and non-prot sectors Use volunteerism as a strong value through which to build bridges with the civilian community. Serving side by side, through a variety of activities and in pursuit of a collective goal, facilitates understanding and connection Encourage involvement, examination, and partnership with universities to pursue academic research in the area of national service and military family policy
Percentage of Respondents Saying The Reversal of DADT Had No Impact
46
CONCLUSION
e end of the era of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars is very welcome by military families, but it is not an end to the challenges of the military lifestyle. Service members and their loved ones know that we live in a dynamic and unpredictable world. Nearly 70,000 remain deployed in Afghanistan, tens of thousands of others continue to deploy in every time zone; the future is unknown but almost certain to be challenging. e nation will continue to move and use its military; while at the same time, because of budget constraints and shifting missions, funding for many aspects of military work and life will be cut, and many who wish to continue to serve in military will instead be part of the drawdown. Since this survey was administered, the impact of sequestration has been notable in the form of deployment cancellations and delays; but there have also been increased uncertainties with scheduled PCS moves, and DoD schools are enduring budget cuts and furloughs that are impacting the education of our children. As readers review this report, survey responses and interpretations should be made with todays current events in mind. A positive by-product of these past years is that policymakers have come to understand military families needs and concerns much better. e military services initiated many good programs for families. Yet many of these programs now face cuts. Particularly in the face of sequestration, military families and service members anxiously wait to see how they will be personally aected by the changes. We are experiencing a conuence of factors: shifting missions, budget cuts, and a military community still processing the eects of a decade of war. oughtful action now requires careful, data-driven allocation of resources, creative collaboration across the public and private spheres (such as those initiated by the Joining Forces) and including the military family as a partner in identifying their keenest challenges, their strengths, and the best programs for helping strengthen this community for the future.
Because the military services will be unable to fund all the support that military families need, and because in many cases military families do not prefer to seek support services from within Department of Defense resources, the connection between military families and their local communities is of increasing importance. So it continues to be a concern that military families consistently express a sense of alienation from the larger community. e results of this survey are intended, in part, to bridge that gap, by providing concrete information about the unique aspects of military life and to bring awareness to the strengths and contributions of the military service culture to American life. After all, it has been shown that a strong sense of community can directly contribute to positive family adaptation as it reects the meaning that people attach to their interactions with others, whether these others are part of formal support (the unit) or part of informal support (friends, etc).146 With the wheels of transition in motion, Blue Star Families challenges the readers of this report to take these results using them to align their resources by doing more with less, just as military service members and their families always have done both in operations and on the homefront. Perhaps the biggest challenge, to not only the military, but also to our country, is to create, adapt, and improve our support structures and develop community capacity to eectively serve our active duty forces and their families, enabling them to apply their strong sense of duty and service towards the benet and future of our nation.
47
About the Authors

Vivian W. Greentree, Ph.D., is Blue Star Families Director of Research and Policy and a co-founder of the organization. A Navy veteran and military spouse, Vivians areas of public policy research include civic engagement, public service motivation, and military family community policy. In 2012, she was named a Daily Point of Light by the Points of Light Institute for her volunteer work and a Top 40 Under 40 from the University of Georgias alumni association. She has appeared as an expert on panels, conferences, and symposiums around the country. Her work has appeared in Public Administration Review, American Review of Politics, and the Atlanta-Journal Constitution. Debbie Bradbard, Ph.D, is Blue Star Families Deputy Director of Research and Policy and a Navy spouse. She received her Ph.D in Counseling Psychology from Auburn University, where she also completed clinical training in marriage and family therapy. She has served as Director of the Victim and Witness Assistance Program for the Norfolk Commonwealths Attorneys Oce and contributed to a variety of research projects, outreach materials, and national panels providing subject matter expertise on military mental health issues, including PTSD, military sexual trauma, suicide, substance abuse, and traumatic brain injury. Leah Dagher has been a Research Analyst with Blue Star Families since 2008. She has contributed to multiple BSF projects, including all Family Lifestyle surveys. Leah is a small business owner who specializes in leadership coaching, professional development, and change management consulting. She has 20 years of professional experience in consulting and coaching Fortune 500, federal government, military and other professionals. Leah is an Air Force spouse and is currently located in Ankara, Turkey. Kitsa Lee is an experienced professional with a background in media market research. She began her career at Arbitron Inc. where she worked directly with radio stations and agencies, providing consultative data analysis and insights. Currently, she is Administrative Coordinator at Sila Heating & Air Conditioning and volunteers as an assistant analyst for Blue Star Families. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from University of Maryland, University College.
Kathleen Levingston, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Counseling and Human Services department at Old Dominion University. She is the faculty advisor for the new SVA chapter and a facilitator for the ODU Military Alliance. She is also a member of TEAMS (Teaching, Education and Awareness for Military Students), an interdisciplinary initiative based in the Darden College of Education that is focused on building military conscious schools and preparing teachers to eectively respond to the unique learning and social-emotional needs of militaryconnected children. Kathleen is a Navy spouse and a mother to two small children. Cammy Elquist LoRe leads communication and customer experience programs for M3 Planning, a strategic planning consultancy. Her professional background also includes corporate communication assessments, public relations, and cross-cultural brand management. She holds a Masters certicate in organizational leadership and dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in Journalism and Anthropology. Currently, she is pursuing a Masters degree in Organizational Communication at the University of Denver. She is an Army spouse, currently stationed with her husband at Fort Carson, CO where they, along with their son Sendoa, enjoy living on the front range of the Rocky Mountains. Jennifer A. Taylor is an Assistant Professor at James Madison University where her teaching and research interests include philanthropy, volunteerism, civil society, accountability, governance, public service ethics and values, and military families. She worked in the non-prot sector for 15 years as a chief development ocer and management consultant, raising over $10 million in operating funds in the arts, social services, and education. Her husband retired from the Navy in 2012 after 25 years of service. Her work has been published in Voluntas and Administrative eory & Praxis. AnnaMaria White possesses more than a decade of experience in marketing and public relations. She has worked in a wide range of areas, from political campaigns and government in the public sector to entertainment and consumer products in the private sector. Ms. White is the public relations manager for Blue Star Families and the principal of White Star Communications, a boutique communications rm specializing in public relations, marketing and events. Ms. White is a Marine Corps spouse and has been with Blue Star Families since 2008.
48
Michelle Kimball, Ph.D, is a visiting scholar with the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information where she specializes in legal and qualitative research. She is a Coast Guard spouse, an Air Force daughter, and an Army sister. She was recently selected as the 2013 AFI Coast Guard spouse of the year for her volunteer work in aid of military families. She is a research analyst for Blue Star Families and started the organizations rst Coast Guard chapter. Sara Resnick holds an MA in Applied Sociology from Old Dominion University. Her areas of expertise include survey methodology, quantitative and qualitative methodologies, and statistical analysis. Sara grew up in as a proud Navy brat and is currently assisting on a community capacity survey for the Navy. She lives in Norfolk, Va. and works at the Social Science Research Center at Old Dominion University.
49
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57
For more information, to volunteer, or to contribute to Blue Star Families, please visit www.bluestarfam.org. For media inquiries, please contact Stephanie Himel-Nelson at stephanie@bluestarfam.org For more information on how to support the ongoing work of Blue Star Families, please contact the development team at giving@bluestarfam.org Comments may be directed to the Blue Star Families Research Team: Vivian W. Greentree, Ph.D. vgreentree@bluestarfam.org Designed by Ismail Rashada www.behance.net/irashada

Comprehensive Report2013

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Comprehensive Report2013

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Foreword

Deanie Dempsey Blue Star Spouse and Mom

Blue Star Families

With help from:

Special thanks to:

Lea Xanakis Megan Wallace

DEPLOYMENTS, WELLNESS, AND DAY-TO-DAY STRESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

BEHAVIORAL AND MENTAL HEALTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

FINANCIAL READINESS AND THE FUTURE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

MILITARY-CIVILIAN INTERSECTIONS AND CONNECTEDNESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

2013 MILITARY FAMILY LIFESTYLE SURVEY REPORT

2013 MILITARY FAMILY LIFESTYLE SURVEY REPORT

MILITARY CHILD EDUCATION:

PAY/BENEFITS AND CHANGES TO RETIREMENT BENEFITS:

MILITARY SPOUSE EMPLOYMENT:

ADDITIONAL FINDINGS OF NOTE SOCIAL MEDIA:

EFFECTS OF DEPLOYMENT ON MILITARY CHILD EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING AND DEVELOPMENT:

FINANCIAL READINESS AND HEALTH:

2013 MILITARY FAMILY LIFESTYLE SURVEY REPORT

EXCEPTIONAL FAMILY MEMBER PROGRAM (EFMP):

PUBLIC POLICY DONT ASK DONT TELL:

VOLUNTEERISM AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT:

TOP ISSUES FOR MILITARY FAMILIES

Top Military Family Issues: Common Threads

Satisfaction with Services

2013 MILITARY FAMILY LIFESTYLE SURVEY REPORT

2013 MILITARY FAMILY LIFESTYLE SURVEY REPORT

Children and Deployment: DoD Support Services

Education and the Military Child

2013 MILITARY FAMILY LIFESTYLE SURVEY REPORT

Exceptional Family Member Program

2013 MILITARY FAMILY LIFESTYLE SURVEY REPORT

Existing Childcare Resources for Military Families

Finding Childcare and Utilization

2013 MILITARY FAMILY LIFESTYLE SURVEY REPORT

Satisfaction with Childcare Options, Quality of Childcare, and Access to Childcare

Children and Childcare: Finding Childcare

Recommendations for Childcare and Looking Ahead

determine whether the barriers mentioned by families are systemic or isolated.

2013 MILITARY FAMILY LIFESTYLE SURVEY REPORT

DEPLOYMENTS, WELLNESS, AND DAY-TO-DAY STRESS

Spouse-Reported Use of Support Services During Deployment

Day-to-Day Stress Level and Coping Ability During Deployment

Spouse Relationship and Well-Being

Service Utilization for Marriage Counseling

2013 MILITARY FAMILY LIFESTYLE SURVEY REPORT

Military Family Separations for Reasons Other Than Deployment

Communication During Deployment

Reported Service Branch Support for Military Lifestyle Issues

Service Member Transition Concerns

2013 MILITARY FAMILY LIFESTYLE SURVEY REPORT

BEHAVIORAL AND MENTAL HEALTH

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Posttraumatic Stress (PTS)

PTS and PTSD: Reasons for not Seeking Treatment

2013 MILITARY FAMILY LIFESTYLE SURVEY REPORT

Service Member Suicide

Military Family Suicide

2013 MILITARY FAMILY LIFESTYLE SURVEY REPORT

FINANCIAL READINESS AND THE FUTURE

2013 MILITARY FAMILY LIFESTYLE SURVEY REPORT

USE AND CONFIDENCE IN BENEFITS

2013 MILITARY FAMILY LIFESTYLE SURVEY REPORT

Childcare and Spouse Employment

Reasons for Not Working

Military Spouse Entrepreneurship

Military Spouse Employment Resources

2013 MILITARY FAMILY LIFESTYLE SURVEY REPORT

MILITARY-CIVILIAN INTERSECTIONS AND CONNECTEDNESS

Social Media Platform Use (by Branch and Age)

Popularity of Common Social Media Sites

Military Family Members and Different Social Media Habits

2013 MILITARY FAMILY LIFESTYLE SURVEY REPORT

Information and Resource Seeking

Net Promoter Score

2013 MILITARY FAMILY LIFESTYLE SURVEY REPORT

Joining Forces to Bridge the Civilian-Military Divide