When military families experience a separation due to deployment or training, research shows military children can experience higher levels of emotional difficulties than the general population. In fact according to longitudinal studies of military families by RAND, one third of the military children from active-duty families reported symptoms of anxiety. When a military families utilize United Through Reading (UTR) toxic stress and anxiety are reduced making it easier on the children and families to cope while their service members are away.
A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine study states parenting practices associated with positive child outcomes in emotional, behavioral, cognitive and social competence include both routines and shared book reading, both of which UTR provides in military homes. When families read bedtime stories each night with United Through Reading videos, military families are strengthened through positive parenting.
Reading aloud with military children on a regular basis through UTR videos encourages early literacy and language skills, vocabulary development and growth, and fosters a love of reading that promises they will be lifelong readers.
The Defense Center of Excellence (DCoE) contends that communication, closeness, emotional ties, support, and nurturing are all factors that promote positive psychological health; United Through Reading encourages all of these factors through the read-aloud experience and connection, promoting psychological health and wellness for the service member, caregivers, and military child.