Associations over time between wartime deployment, parental burnout and child adjustment

Military deployment places significant stress on families, yet little is known about its effects in contexts where both deployed and non-deployed family members face ongoing threat. This longitudinal study, conducted during the first seven months of the Israel–Hamas War, investigated how spousal deployment interacts with parental burnout and child emotional and behavioral problems, and whether parental burnout moderates this relationship. The study included 123 Israeli mothers (Mean age = 39.11, SD = 6.10) of children aged 5–18 years (Mean age = 8.47, SD = 3.32), 35 of whom had partners deployed to reserve duty during the war (28%). Participants completed measures of parental burnout and child adjustment at two time points: one month and seven months after the outbreak of the war. Results indicated that at baseline, mothers whose partners were deployed reported significantly higher levels of parental burnout and child's behavioral and emotional difficulties. Over time, parental burnout remained stable in the deployed group but increased among mothers with non-deployed partners. Importantly, parental burnout moderated the association between deployment status and child adjustment, such that deployment was significantly associated with child difficulties only when parental burnout was high. These findings underscore the critical role of parental emotional well-being in shaping child outcomes during armed conflict. Parental burnout emerges as a key factor that can moderate the link between deployment and children's mental health and should be a central target in family-based support strategies during times of war.