Stress in family life

Munteanu,ALEXANDRU-COSMIN
Land Forces Academy,,Nicolae Bălcescu”, Sibiu
Munteanu.alexandru2693@gmail.com
Lector.Univ. Dr.Macovei CRENGUTA

ABSTRACT

Over the last few years, the military environment has witnessed an alarming increase
in the number of soldiers that have to meet both the demands of the workplace and the family life
demands. Some of these increases are the result of the rise in social factors such as the increase
in the number of single women, single parents, couples in which both partners work and couples
in which both partners have jobs, of course this females also manifest in the environment
military.
This upward trend is the result of the military's passing to a volunteer military staff,
which, in my opinion, represents the fact that the military service is an occupation, not a calling.

KEYWORDS

Stress, military family; relocation; deployment; well being

Ocupational stress

We face challenges, threats or inconveniences in our daily lives. On a sporadic basis,

they can endanger life, but, more often, they simply threaten our pride, prestige, image and
position in the workplace, family or society. The individual justifies the stressful situation and
determines whether the situation is tolerable or not. Without this assessment there is no stress in
the psychological spectrum of the body. No matter how full of resources we can do to deal with
problems, the circumstances of life inevitably involve stress. Our reasons are not always easily
satisfied; obstacles must be overcome, choices made and tolerated delays. Each of us develops
characteristic ways to respond when our attempts to achieve a goal are blocked.
Stress is a feeling that is created when reacting to certain events. It is the way of the body to rise
to a challenge and to prepare to encounter a difficult situation with increased focus, strength,
resilience and vigilance. Stress-causing events are called stressors and cover a whole range of
situations - from direct physical danger to class presentation. Stress occurs everywhere and in
every sphere of life.
Interest in the state of the individual at work and the relationship with his performance
triggered a series of research. According to the investigations, five out of six people in the army
said they were under stress in the workplace. Most of the people surveyed said that these
tensions are intense enough to be negatively felt by both those concerned and the organization;
88% of respondents claim top-down pressures, while only 12% accused the pressure exerted by
subordinates. Thus, the hypothesis - subsequently confirmed by numerous research - has
emerged - that organizations can talk about a specific stress - organizational stress.
In the context of certain socio-economic situations we can also talk about occupational
stress. As a variation of organizational stress, it manifests itself in certain socio-professional
categories generated by environmental factors with negative connotations. For example, we are
talking about the occupational stress of the Romanian Army officers, marked by the strong
concentration of organizations or individuals on economic factors. At the base of organizational
stress are two central stressors, of psychological nature:
• role conflict. This stressor designates the situations in which a person occupying a
particular post is subjected within the organization to imperatives, demands, pressures of
contradictory or even unacceptable nature. In the majority of cases, the individual
confronted with conflict is in the middle - between superiors and subordinates -
conflicting situations taking various forms;
• the ambiguity of the role, it means the lack or insufficiency of the clear and timely
information required for the correct handling of the tasks. The individual confronted with
the ambiguity of the role does not know precisely the objectives and tasks, the expected
performance of the organization, the criteria of control, evaluation and motivation. The
ambiguity experienced by individuals is different and marked by personality traits. The
stress intensity generated by the ambiguity of the role is closely related to the ability to
generally tolerate ambiguity, different from one individual to another.
The two major categories of stressors are manifested in varied forms within
organizations and are perceived with varying intensities by the individuals who compose it. This
different perception is generated not only by individual parameters but also by the position
occupied within the organization; as a rule, managers are more exposed to the adverse effects of
adaptation syndrome compared to performers.
 Noise is a feature of modern society. In the army (and especially at war) noise is an
omnipresent aspect (explosions, powerful engines – aviation)
 Adaptation at extreme temperatures is subject to physiological limits quite low.
Consequence: dependence on artificial means of protection.
Temperature related variables: humidity, wind, duration of exposure
 Motion sickness (motion sickness, vestibular syndrome) is a disorder temporary health
status associated with a certain type of movement in space.

The military family

In the last half century, the army has seen an increase in the number of soldiers who
have to strive to meet both the demands of their work and the demands of their families. Some of
these increases are the result of society's tendencies, such as the increase in the number of
women, single parents and people with multiple incomes, and couples in which the partners have
a dual career, too, among those working in the military. This increase is also likely the result of
the military transition from the compulsory military service to a wholly voluntary force and a
belief that military service is a job where you can build a career. Research recommendations
suggest that the military work environment is largely related to family outcomes, such as well-
being, attitude and adaptation of family members, but also work results such as military welfare,
morale and retention.
A family system can be heavily affected by the effects of an economic recession, moving to
another city or country, family resistance mechanisms are significantly threatened by poverty or
discrimination.
One of the functions of the family is to support their members. When one of them is
tense, the other members feel the need to adapt to this change because they are following
preserving the integrity of its structure, ie maintaining homeostasis.

Relocation

A family can be severely affected by the effects of an economic recession, moving to

another city or another country, family resistance mechanisms are significantly threatened by
poverty or discrimination.
Missions both outside the territory of the Romanian State and the military training
exercises attended by the military have a place in a more complex environment, which involves a
constant effort to adapt not only to the demands imposed by the mission but also to the
separation of the family, the chair and for short periods of time the characteristics of the
deployment area. One of the major issues, which are of major concern to some of the military, is
the cultural characteristics of the area, especially when it is participating for the first time in a
mission in that area.
The period in which the military is far from the family undoubtedly brings a certain
state of affairs discomfort, nervousness in the life of the partner who will remain at home solving
alone a series of problems that did not come before in his duties. With the return from the
mission or from the detachment, the soldiers will want to return to the role and family tasks
before departure, which could cause a series of tense moments culminating in a series of quarrels
and rasings from both partners. However, returning home becomes an occasion of joy, but also
worry, triggering a true "emotional storm".

Deployment

Military exercises can be perceived in different ways and forms depending on certain major
factors of gravity. For example, the type of mission (fighting, peacekeeping, local order training)
is one of the factors that make the difference. The level of risk to which the military is subjected
is a determining factor in measuring stress both in the military and its family, with a determining
role in maintaining high morals. At the same time, the psyche of the soldier's family plays a
decisive role and the period of the application as they think about the time when they will have to
support the moral military and replace them with absences, especially in the families where there
are children.
This conceptualization of deployment is similar to notions of other major life changes, such as
divorce, and has important implications for understanding its potential effects on child outcomes.
Military applications and military missions in service interests demonstrate the
experiences experienced by soldiers and their families. The missions themselves and the training
period are extremely challenging for the family, and the stress level is a nominative rap hit as
they are separated .
 Combat. In the foreground, from the peripheral stress categories in the garrison
(psychological environment, self-identity, cultural environment), three of them are accentuated
and reach maximum levels. Specific stressors in the autoidentity identity category are likely to
reach a maximum. It should also be mentioned that we assume that different stressors in the
psychological environment (rotating around fears and mortality) that have significant strains for
soldiers and are at their maximum.
Noncombat. Noncombat applications from a conceptual point of view are missions
outside similar territory in the civilian environment. In this situation, the seven categories of
stress appear or grow in relation to the level of the garrison. However, it can predict that the
concentration of the soldiers will be on the categories of work, social-interpersonal and cultural.
Stressers in the other categories will appear more often than the initial values, but we suggest
that their frequency be lower than in combat scenarios.

Family well-being

As this term is only analyzed by the greatest minds, they say that welfare is more than
just being healthy and not being targeted by the disease. Being "good," living in "well-being" is
all the actions a man does to reach his or her maximum potential and fulfill his mission for which
he came to Earth. This well-being is a goal that people would all like, but which requires you to
change, to do something to get that good that you want.
There are many phases in the natural evolution of one families, and they require a
negotiation of new rules, which leads to conflicts. They offer family members, and the family as
a whole, opportunities for new growth. If these conflicts do not are solved, they lead in time to
other difficulties. The example is that of the child's transition to adolescence. Adolescence
involves many child contacts with the extra-family world, and his status during this period is
changing. Relationships with parents change, he needs more much autonomy and responsibility.
Transactions of the parent subsystem with the teenager will have to be changed from
parents - child to parents - young adults. Thus, the result will be a successful adaptation. In some
cases, the mother, for example, can resist changing her relationship with the teenage child, as this
would involve changes in her relationship with her husband. Thus, instead of changing its
attitude, she can attack the teenager and undermine his authority. If the father comes into conflict
with the child, an inappropriate cross-generational coalition is formed that can be generalized
until all the family is in conflict. If no adaptive changes occur, dysfunctional sets will appear that
will be activated whenever conflicts occur.

A distinct aspect to be considered in the period preparation of the mission is that of emotional
impact on children. If, to a certain age, a child finds it difficult to understand what a parent
means to be temporarily absent, the main problem that may arise is the lack of open
communication and information on departure, where children may feel that they have been lied,
and the authority of the parent with whom they remain at home is seriously threatened.
Therefore, for the well-being of the family, children should be included in the talks on leaving
the mission if they are of an age to understand the event and are encouraged to openly express
their feelings about this separation.
Concerning the issue of understanding the effect of military deployment on the soldiers
and their families is a contemporary and complex issue, there are many ways to approach this
issue in time to solve it. To be able to approach such a sensitive and complex subject requires a
balance between tenacity and information.
From the content of the paper we can understand that the impact of military missions
and displacements is a contemporary problem and should be interfered with because it has
negative effects on its family. I hope that this activity will help to find solutions to combat stress
in the family life of soldiers

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