Staff Perspectives: SOARing into the Future: How Research Can Support Military Teens
Certain mottos stick with us from the moment we begin learning life skills. For me, one of the earliest was "be prepared," a principle I carried from my days as a Girl Scout into my military career. This motto emphasizes the importance of readiness and adaptability, key components of resilience. As a service member, whether we are learning how to use a map or training in high-pressure environments, the objective remains the same: develop the skills needed to perform under the most challenging conditions.
As I think about defining resilience, I often lean into the work of Daniel Siegel, MD, as he discusses resilience as a capacity to recover from adversity, adapt to challenges, and maintain a sense of stability and flexibility during stressful or difficult times (Siegel, 2020). Dr. Siegel also introduces this dynamic concept of a window of tolerance, which helps us reflect on the various degrees of adversity we can handle at different points in time (Siegel, 1999). When I reflect on resilience, I think about those skills I have developed over my lifespan to utilize during those times of high stress when I find myself outside my window of tolerance.
In the mental health field, we often hear that kids are resilient. As a child clinician in my previous role at a military treatment facility, who spent much of my time embedded in the elementary schools on and near post, I frequently heard from teachers, medical staff, and many other professionals, "military children are so resilient." This comment resonates with me as a professional and a parent of military children, especially when I see children endure challenging situations and still "bounce back." As I write this, it was only four weeks ago when my oldest daughter, 10, broke both bones in her wrist during the second soccer game of the season. Outside of the physical pains, she was devasted to learn that she would have to sit out the rest of the season for her favorite sport. However, after a day or so of lots of words of encouragement, plenty of reminders that she was allowed to feel disappointment and other challenging feelings, and a myriad of signatures from friends and supportive adults on her cast, my tween was back on the soccer field, this time standing on the sidelines cheering her team on for the next ten games of the season.
So, what about our children, especially those growing up in military families, make them so resilient? Research does not generally identify inherent traits children are born with that lead to some sort of natural resilience. Dr. Siegel’s work identifies that resilience is cultivated by developing skills in emotional regulation, self-awareness, and interpersonal support (Siegel, 2020). Easterbrooks, Ginsburg, and Lerner (2013) discuss resilience as the result of access to positive relationships and resources. As a social worker, I tend to look through a lens of systems and environments to notice if bigger contributions are at play. These thoughts lead me to reflect on the environment in which military children grow up—like supportive families, schools, and communities that may foster this resilience and the skills children may learn from their service member parent(s) and support systems. However, I am more interested in whether this resounding recognition of resilience within the average military child endures as they transition into adolescence and adulthood, especially as they may no longer have access to a military-connected community. While we often tout their resilience, it is important to ask: Is the initial resilience witnessed in childhood withstanding enough to contribute to their long-term well-being? Or do we need to be more intentional in building the skills and systems that support their mental and emotional health into their next developmental stages?
When we think of military children, the image that comes to mind often includes babies, toddlers, and elementary-aged kids. That is not surprising, given that over two-thirds of the 1.55 million military children are under the age of 11 (Department of Defense, 2022). Additionally, the programs available for military families tend to focus on young children, leaving a gap in support as these kids reach their teenage years. Yet, we know that adolescence brings new and complex challenges—emotional, social, and developmental. The most recent publication of the CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Survey shows continued upward trends among adolescents in reporting poor mental health and suicidal thoughts and behaviors (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2023). How do we ensure that the resilience military children build during their early years carries them through these turbulent teenage years and beyond? This is a timely factor especially considering many teenagers whose parent(s) served have separated or retired by the time they reach adolescence, and they no longer have immediate access to a military community. What happens when these kids grow up?
For years, we have known that military life can significantly shape the lives of children, but there has been little long-term research on how military experiences specifically affect adolescent development (Tannenbaum & McMaster, 2024). That is changing with the recent launch of the Millennium Cohort Study of Adolescent Resilience(SOAR), a groundbreaking subsidiary of the larger Millennium Cohort Study. Launched in 2022, SOAR is embedded within the larger Millennium Cohort Study and is the first U.S. population-based longitudinal study to examine the well-being of military-connected youth. By following thousands of military-connected adolescents, the study will help to explore how military-specific experiences impact psychosocial development, mental health, and career aspirations; SOAR's scope and depth are unprecedented (Tannenbaum & McMaster, 2024).
SOAR's multi-informant design—surveys service members, their adolescent children (ages 11–17), and another primary parent—offers an innovative family-systems approach to understanding how military experiences shape adolescent health and development (Tannenbaum & McMaster, 2024). By collecting and linking data from all three family members, SOAR aims to bring to light data on the enduring impact of military life on adolescents' physical and mental health, academic achievement, and future aspirations. The longitudinal design of SOAR allows researchers to follow military-connected adolescents into young adulthood, offering a rare opportunity to observe changes in health, effects of the parent-adolescent relationship, and resilience over time. This type of data is crucial, as it will allow us to explore not just the immediate effects of military life on teens, but also how these experiences shape their transition into adulthood. The results from SOAR will be invaluable in helping researchers better deduce how protective factors like supportive communities and stable relationships can shape resilience. Insights gleaned from SOAR also have the potential to help us understand why some children and teens struggle more than others and how we can intervene to support those who need it most.
I am hopeful SOAR will be a game-changer for military family research, and its findings can potentially affect how we approach adolescent well-being within military and civilian families. As results begin to emerge, they have the potential to inform evidence-based interventions, policy developments, and programs designed to enhance the resilience and readiness of military families. Perhaps most of us already know that the journey of resilience does not end with childhood. As military children grow into teenagers, they need continued support to navigate the complexities of adolescence. By understanding the systems that foster resilience, acknowledging the unique challenges military teens face, and applying lessons from studies like SOAR, we will be better able to support the next generation of military-connected youth. I hope you are as excited as I am. You can check out more about this study at Study of Adolescent Resilience: A Department of Defense Research Project (millenniumcohort.org).
The opinions in CDP Staff Perspective blogs are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Science or the Department of Defense.
Allison Hannah, MSW, LCSW, is a Military Behavioral Health Social Worker for the Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP) at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland.
References:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023). Youth risk behavior survey data summary & trends report: 2011-2023. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/pdf/YRBS_Data-Summary-Trends_Report2023_508.pdf
Department of Defense. (2022). 2022 Demographics profile of the military community. https://download.militaryonesource.mil/12038/MOS/Reports/2022-demographics-report.pdf
Easterbrooks, M. A., Ginsburg, K., & Lerner, R. M. (2013). Resilience among military youth. The Future of Children, 23(2), 99–120. https://doi.org/10.1353/foc.2013.0014
Siegel, D. J. (1999). The developing mind: Toward a neurobiology of interpersonal experience. The Guilford Press.
Siegel, D. J. (2020). The developing mind: How relationships and the brain interact to shape who we are (3rd ed.). The Guilford Press.
Tannenbaum, K. and McMaster, H.S. (2024) The Study of Adolescent Resilience (SOAR): a research protocol. Front. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry 3:1346726. Doi: 10.3389/frcha.2024.1346726
Certain mottos stick with us from the moment we begin learning life skills. For me, one of the earliest was "be prepared," a principle I carried from my days as a Girl Scout into my military career. This motto emphasizes the importance of readiness and adaptability, key components of resilience. As a service member, whether we are learning how to use a map or training in high-pressure environments, the objective remains the same: develop the skills needed to perform under the most challenging conditions.
As I think about defining resilience, I often lean into the work of Daniel Siegel, MD, as he discusses resilience as a capacity to recover from adversity, adapt to challenges, and maintain a sense of stability and flexibility during stressful or difficult times (Siegel, 2020). Dr. Siegel also introduces this dynamic concept of a window of tolerance, which helps us reflect on the various degrees of adversity we can handle at different points in time (Siegel, 1999). When I reflect on resilience, I think about those skills I have developed over my lifespan to utilize during those times of high stress when I find myself outside my window of tolerance.
In the mental health field, we often hear that kids are resilient. As a child clinician in my previous role at a military treatment facility, who spent much of my time embedded in the elementary schools on and near post, I frequently heard from teachers, medical staff, and many other professionals, "military children are so resilient." This comment resonates with me as a professional and a parent of military children, especially when I see children endure challenging situations and still "bounce back." As I write this, it was only four weeks ago when my oldest daughter, 10, broke both bones in her wrist during the second soccer game of the season. Outside of the physical pains, she was devasted to learn that she would have to sit out the rest of the season for her favorite sport. However, after a day or so of lots of words of encouragement, plenty of reminders that she was allowed to feel disappointment and other challenging feelings, and a myriad of signatures from friends and supportive adults on her cast, my tween was back on the soccer field, this time standing on the sidelines cheering her team on for the next ten games of the season.
So, what about our children, especially those growing up in military families, make them so resilient? Research does not generally identify inherent traits children are born with that lead to some sort of natural resilience. Dr. Siegel’s work identifies that resilience is cultivated by developing skills in emotional regulation, self-awareness, and interpersonal support (Siegel, 2020). Easterbrooks, Ginsburg, and Lerner (2013) discuss resilience as the result of access to positive relationships and resources. As a social worker, I tend to look through a lens of systems and environments to notice if bigger contributions are at play. These thoughts lead me to reflect on the environment in which military children grow up—like supportive families, schools, and communities that may foster this resilience and the skills children may learn from their service member parent(s) and support systems. However, I am more interested in whether this resounding recognition of resilience within the average military child endures as they transition into adolescence and adulthood, especially as they may no longer have access to a military-connected community. While we often tout their resilience, it is important to ask: Is the initial resilience witnessed in childhood withstanding enough to contribute to their long-term well-being? Or do we need to be more intentional in building the skills and systems that support their mental and emotional health into their next developmental stages?
When we think of military children, the image that comes to mind often includes babies, toddlers, and elementary-aged kids. That is not surprising, given that over two-thirds of the 1.55 million military children are under the age of 11 (Department of Defense, 2022). Additionally, the programs available for military families tend to focus on young children, leaving a gap in support as these kids reach their teenage years. Yet, we know that adolescence brings new and complex challenges—emotional, social, and developmental. The most recent publication of the CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Survey shows continued upward trends among adolescents in reporting poor mental health and suicidal thoughts and behaviors (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2023). How do we ensure that the resilience military children build during their early years carries them through these turbulent teenage years and beyond? This is a timely factor especially considering many teenagers whose parent(s) served have separated or retired by the time they reach adolescence, and they no longer have immediate access to a military community. What happens when these kids grow up?
For years, we have known that military life can significantly shape the lives of children, but there has been little long-term research on how military experiences specifically affect adolescent development (Tannenbaum & McMaster, 2024). That is changing with the recent launch of the Millennium Cohort Study of Adolescent Resilience(SOAR), a groundbreaking subsidiary of the larger Millennium Cohort Study. Launched in 2022, SOAR is embedded within the larger Millennium Cohort Study and is the first U.S. population-based longitudinal study to examine the well-being of military-connected youth. By following thousands of military-connected adolescents, the study will help to explore how military-specific experiences impact psychosocial development, mental health, and career aspirations; SOAR's scope and depth are unprecedented (Tannenbaum & McMaster, 2024).
SOAR's multi-informant design—surveys service members, their adolescent children (ages 11–17), and another primary parent—offers an innovative family-systems approach to understanding how military experiences shape adolescent health and development (Tannenbaum & McMaster, 2024). By collecting and linking data from all three family members, SOAR aims to bring to light data on the enduring impact of military life on adolescents' physical and mental health, academic achievement, and future aspirations. The longitudinal design of SOAR allows researchers to follow military-connected adolescents into young adulthood, offering a rare opportunity to observe changes in health, effects of the parent-adolescent relationship, and resilience over time. This type of data is crucial, as it will allow us to explore not just the immediate effects of military life on teens, but also how these experiences shape their transition into adulthood. The results from SOAR will be invaluable in helping researchers better deduce how protective factors like supportive communities and stable relationships can shape resilience. Insights gleaned from SOAR also have the potential to help us understand why some children and teens struggle more than others and how we can intervene to support those who need it most.
I am hopeful SOAR will be a game-changer for military family research, and its findings can potentially affect how we approach adolescent well-being within military and civilian families. As results begin to emerge, they have the potential to inform evidence-based interventions, policy developments, and programs designed to enhance the resilience and readiness of military families. Perhaps most of us already know that the journey of resilience does not end with childhood. As military children grow into teenagers, they need continued support to navigate the complexities of adolescence. By understanding the systems that foster resilience, acknowledging the unique challenges military teens face, and applying lessons from studies like SOAR, we will be better able to support the next generation of military-connected youth. I hope you are as excited as I am. You can check out more about this study at Study of Adolescent Resilience: A Department of Defense Research Project (millenniumcohort.org).
The opinions in CDP Staff Perspective blogs are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Science or the Department of Defense.
Allison Hannah, MSW, LCSW, is a Military Behavioral Health Social Worker for the Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP) at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland.
References:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023). Youth risk behavior survey data summary & trends report: 2011-2023. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/pdf/YRBS_Data-Summary-Trends_Report2023_508.pdf
Department of Defense. (2022). 2022 Demographics profile of the military community. https://download.militaryonesource.mil/12038/MOS/Reports/2022-demographics-report.pdf
Easterbrooks, M. A., Ginsburg, K., & Lerner, R. M. (2013). Resilience among military youth. The Future of Children, 23(2), 99–120. https://doi.org/10.1353/foc.2013.0014
Siegel, D. J. (1999). The developing mind: Toward a neurobiology of interpersonal experience. The Guilford Press.
Siegel, D. J. (2020). The developing mind: How relationships and the brain interact to shape who we are (3rd ed.). The Guilford Press.
Tannenbaum, K. and McMaster, H.S. (2024) The Study of Adolescent Resilience (SOAR): a research protocol. Front. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry 3:1346726. Doi: 10.3389/frcha.2024.1346726