When one family member is stressed, the whole family may feel it. And this stress can boil over into their work life, including military service. According to a study from the University of Georgia, when service members struggle to cope with the personal and family demands of military life, they feel more guilt about their work and perceive their work does not enrich their family life.
The study is published in the journal Military Psychology . "Service members give a lot to the career of being in the military," said lead author Meredith Farnsworth, a 2022 doctoral graduate from UGA's College of Family and Consumer Sciences. "It's about understanding how we take care of service members and their families in the best way through policy and programming.
" The researchers analyzed data from more than 200 military families made up of a service member father, civilian mother and adolescent child between the ages of 11 and 18. All three family members were surveyed about stress levels and relationship dynamics. Service members indicated how guilty they felt about their work impacting family life as well as how their work enriched their family.
"Family members are interdependent, and their stress can be contagious from one another," said Catherine O'Neal, co-author of the study and an assistant professor in UGA's College of Family and Consumer Sciences. "But it's also true that each individual sees things differently. Some family members experience more or less stress, and that has i.
