The Intergenerational Influence of Military Service Related Moral Injury

Members of the Canadian Armed Forces are frequently required to make decisions that may conflict with their personally held moral beliefs, potentially leading to moral injury. Although there is a substantial body of research on the prevalence and internal experiences of morally injured serving members and Veterans, less attention has been given to studying the effects and perspectives of families. In particular, the insights and experiences of children in military families are often marginalized in academic literature. Therefore, the primary aim of this research is to investigate the experiences of adult children of Canadian Armed Forces Veterans who have been affected by moral injuries related to their military service. Through an interpretive and critical paradigm, this project aims to understand the process through which adult children have constructed meaning to make sense of the experience of a parental military service-related moral injury, the influence of parental moral injury on childhood experiences, and the ways in which we can improve the well-being of military families when moral injury is present.