The Military Child Well-being Toolkit

The MCEC Military Child Well-being Toolkit has been created to provide accessible social-emotional supports and resources directly to parents, educators, school counselors, administrators, and other youth-serving professionals working with military-connected youth.

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence (EI): The ability to manage one’s feelings and emotions and react positively with other people.

-Joshua Freedman

The importance of building emotional intelligence (EI) is imperative to a military child’s future academic, social and career successes. When youth are intentionally provided opportunities to build their emotional intelligence (EI) skills, they become more knowledgeable, responsible, reflective, empathetic, and considerate life-long contributors of their communities.

Learning how to identify and express one’s emotions builds character and resilience essential for future academic, life, and future career success. A high EI is associated with a positive sense of self and one who intentionally practices self-care routines necessary to build social and emotional awareness. Students who learn how to manage their feelings and emotions are likely to communicate clearly and assertively, resolve conflicts creatively, handle stress, and act with integrity in all areas of their lives (Elias and Tobias, 2018).

The CASEL 5 areas of concentration are interrelated emotional intelligence competencies to include:

  1. Self-Awareness
  2. Self-Management
  3. Social Awareness
  4. Social Skills
  5. Responsible Decision-making.

These emotional intelligence competencies can be taught and applied throughout the human lifespan, developmental stages, and across diverse cultural contexts. High emotional intelligence is tied to a positive sense of self and one’s ability to experience meaningful relationships, academic success, school and civic involvement, strong familial relationships, overall health and well-being all leading to fulfilling futures and careers (Drigas & Papoutsi, 2018)

Parents & Professionals
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Parents of Young Children
School Leadership
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Brading, T. (2020, September 30). Holistic health added to Army Fitness doctrine. U.S. Army. https://www.army.mil

Cozza, S. J., Knobloch, L. K., Gewirtz, A. H., DeVoe, E. R., Gorman, L. A., Flake, E. M., … & Lerner, R. M. (2018). Lessons learned and future recommendations for conducting research with military children and families. In Hughes- Kirchubel, L., Wadsworth, S., Riggs, D. (eds.), A battle plan for supporting military families (pp. 265-287). Springer, Cham. https://10.1007/978-3-319-68984-5

Doran. (n.d.). There’s a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management’s goals and objectives. Management Review, 70(11), 35–36. https://doi.org/info:doi/

Drigas, A. S., & Papoutsi, C. (2018). A new layered model on emotional intelligence. Behavioral Sciences (Basel, Switzerland), 8(5), 45. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs8050045

Goleman D.P. (1995). Emotional intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ for character, health and lifelong achievement. Bantam Books.

Gribble, R., Mahar, A. L., Keeling, M., Sullivan, K., McKeown, S., Burchill, S., … & Castro, C. A. (2020). Are we family? A scoping review of how military families are defined in mental health and substance use research. Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health, 6(2), 85-119. https://doi.org/10.3138/jmvfh-2019-0054

Hughes-Kirchubel, L., Wadsworth, S.M. (2018). Introduction to a battle plan for supporting military families. In Hughes- Kirchubel, L., Wadsworth, S., Riggs, D. (eds.), A battle plan for supporting military families (pp. 1-10). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68984-5_1

Klug, H. J. P., & Maier, G. W. (2015). Linking goal progress and subjective well-being: A meta-analysis. Journal of Happiness Studies: An Interdisciplinary Forum on Subjective Well-Being, 16(1), 37-65. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-013-9493-0

Masten, A. S. (2018). Resilience theory and research on children and families: Past, present, and promise. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 10(1), 12-31. https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.12255

Masten, A. S. (2021). MULTISYSTEM RESILIENCE: PATHWAYS TO AN INTEGRATED FRAMEWORK. Research in Human Development, 18(3), 153-163. https://doi.org/10.1080/15427609.2021.1958604 .

Maybery, D. J., Goodyear, M. J., Reupert, A. E., & Harkness, M. K. (2013). Goal setting within family care planning: families with complex needs. The Medical journal of Australia, 199(3), S37–S39. https://doi.org/10.5694/mja11.11179

Mullet, N., Fuss, C., Lyddon, L., Mondloch, D., Neal, S., Nelson Goff, B. S., … & Ruhlmann, L. M. (2021). Finding our new normal: A 10-year follow-up study with US Army veterans and their spouses. Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy, 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1080/15332691.2021.1945986

Office of the Surgeon General (OSG). (2021). Protecting youth mental health: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory. US Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK575984/

Pexton, S., Farrants, J., & Yule, W. (2018). The impact of fathers’ military deployment on child adjustment. The support needs of primary school children and their families separated during active military service: A pilot study. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 23(1), 110–124. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359104517724494

Siegel, D. J., & Bryson, P. H. D. T. P. (2012). The whole-brain child. Random House. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/camh.12053_6

Sigelman, C. K., Friedman, S. L., & Kildon, J. (2019). Communication, context, and well-being among military couples. Military Behavioral Health, 7(4), 363-375. https://doi.org/10.1080/21635781.2019.1646173

Sullivan, R. M., Cozza, S. J., & Dougherty, J. G. (2019). Children of military families. Child and adolescent psychiatric clinics of North America, 28(3), 337–348. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chc.2019.02.004

Theiss, J. A. (2018). Family communication and resilience. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 46(1), 10-13. https://doi.org/10.1080/00909882.2018.1426706

Disclosure Statement: These tools are not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website.

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