Military Families: A Comparative Perspective

With a focus on the changing definitions of family and the changing nature of warfare, we explore cross-national comparisons regarding the potential spillover and conflict experienced by military families. We emphasize the intersection of life course events for the family members connected to one, possibly two, military careers and the impact this has on individual and familial well-being across countries. We do this at a time when more than 1.5 million servicemembers, including women in combat support roles, from more than 57 countries have deployed in support of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, which are unprecedented in their duration. Although these wars may be drawing down, at least in regard to declared combat operations, there is potential for the trends discussed to continue. In this work, we provide potential hypotheses that can be tested with further research, rather than providing an in-depth analysis of any one country or trend.