When Military Youth Relocate:
A Parental Involvement Perspective & Bioecological Approach
Leslie A. Gladney
Purpose
 Illustrate how using a parental involvement
perspective can be used as a guide to help youth in
military families adjust to new school environments
 Provide examples of Hoover-Dempsey and
colleagues work on parental involvement predictors
as contributing factors in youths’ transitions
 Apply Bronfenbrenner’s Person-Process-ContextTime Model of Bioecological Theory
Background
 A typical element of military culture is relocating
about every three years
 Families experiencing deployments face additional
stressors
 Deficiency in research focusing specifically on how
military youth manage frequent moves
Parental Involvement Predictors in the
Context of the Person-ProcessContext-Time Model
Person:
indirect
producers and
products; results
of psychological
and biological
development
Process:
bidirectional;
occurs when there
is some degree of
mutual exchange
of interaction
 Many researchers do not use a theoretical framework
in their work on military youth and their families
 Lack of conclusive evidence that either supports or
refutes the notion that frequent relocations are
detrimental to youths’ coping capabilities
Common Transition Stressors
Experienced by Military Adolescents
 Experiencing tension at home
Context:
microsystems,
mesosystems,
exosystems, and
macrosystems
 Facing strains on peer relationships
 Adapting to new schools
 Working through academic challenges
 Navigating student-teacher relationships
 Becoming involved in extracurricular activities
 Feelings of unpredictability
Time:
events taking
place at a specific
point in historical
time
•Predictors: parental role construction,
skills & knowledge, and time & energy
•Military parents’ beliefs about their
children’s education, the skills,
knowledge, time and energy parents
possess regarding their education,
has the potential to foster or hinder
their children’s transitions as they
shift to a new school environment.
•Predictors: parental self-efficacy and
parents’ skills & knowledge
•Military parents take into consideration
their beliefs in how active they want to
be in their children’s education and
then evaluate their own skills and
knowledge concerning their children’s
education.
•This determines what kinds of
educational activities they are
dedicated to be involved in.
•Predictors: parents’ perceptions of
general parental involvement
regarding school, child, and specific
teacher invitations
•Military members and their families
come from all backgrounds –
races/ethnicities, sexual orientation,
gender, religious affiliations, political
beliefs, value systems, etc.
(microsystems).
•These microsystems have numerous
possibilities of interrelationships that
expand to mesosytems, exosystems,
and macrosystems.
•With the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
recently coming to a close, many
military parents will need to reevaluate their beliefs concerning how
much they will choose to be involved
in their children’s educational
activities.
Suggestions for Future Research
 Research that focuses more closely on ways in which
youth in military families transition to new schools,
which could provide suggestions of how professionals
(e.g., teachers, counselors, school liaisons) can ease
those transitions.
 Utilization of Hoover-Dempsey and colleagues
predictors of parental involvement can be used:
 In the conceptualization stages of research on military
youth
 As a guiding framework for prevention and intervention
program curriculum concerning children’s education
 An increase in investigators using theoretical
frameworks in their studies on military youth to:
 Organize findings
 Provide supporting evidence of findings
 Provide rationale to continue research on military
youths’ stressors and struggles as they transition to new
school environments
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