Military Families Less Likely to Recommend Service: Blue Star Families 2023 Military Family Lifestyle Survey

Results Highlight Critical Challenges Impacting Military Families and Urgent Need for Action

WASHINGTON, March 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Star Families, a national non-profit that provides community support and resources to military families, released the findings of its 2023 Military Family Lifestyle Survey today. The survey received over 7,400 responses from active-duty, National Guard and Reserve service members, Veterans, and their family members. It focused on key issues that impact military and Veteran families, including health care access, mental health care, spouse employment, recruitment, and transition out of the military.

Key Takeaways:

• The likelihood of military families recommending military service has dropped by nearly half since 2016, from 55% to 32%. The root cause for the decline are contributing factors that affect military family's social determinants of health, like spouse unemployment and access to quality mental health care services, among others.
• The top five issues affecting families, according to the survey, are Military Spouse Employment (49%), Time Away from Family (38%), Military Pay (37%), Housing Concerns (36%) and Children's Education (33%)
• 23% of active-duty spouses and 26% of active-duty service member respondents report they are not currently receiving mental health care but would like to receive care.
• Military spouse unemployment remains 4-6 times the national average.
• Of active-duty family respondents, 1 in 6 reported experiencing food insecurity; this increases to 1 in 4 enlisted family respondents.

"This data shows that persistent quality-of-life issues such as spouse unemployment, limited child care, housing costs, and health care barriers impact military families' desire to continue their family tradition of service," said Jessica Strong, Senior Director of Applied Research at Blue Star Families, "But military families are the most critical untapped potential to solve the national recruiting crisis. To save the All-Volunteer Force, we have to address military families' concerns and stories they shared with us through this research."

A reception to discuss the results will take place on March 12, 2024, in the Capitol Visitors Center in Washington, D.C. at 5 pm. The debrief will include remarks from emcee and CNN anchor Brianna Keilar, House Armed Services Committee Quality of Life panelist U.S. Representative Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy James Honea and spouse Mrs. Honea.

To view the full results, visit the official results release website. Additional opportunities to learn more about the data collected in the survey and speak directly with the Blue Star Families' research team are available to interested parties during a virtual data deep dive session on March 21, 2024, at 1 PM ET. Registration is open to the public.

The Blue Star Families Military Family Lifestyle survey was conducted from May 24 — July 17, 2023, in collaboration with Syracuse University's D'Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF). The survey was also made possible by support from Blue Star Families funders, including The USAA Foundation, Lockheed Martin, Macy's Inc., Northrop Grumman, and CSX. Additional support for Blue Star Families was provided by craig newmark philanthropies and the Patrick McGovern Foundation.

About Blue Star Families

Blue Star Families is the nation's largest Chapter-based military family support organization, with a mission to support military families. Its distinctive approach builds stronger communities around military families through knowledge and programs that address the unique needs of those who serve. Blue Star Families' nationally recognized surveys and analysis give military families an important voice that informs policymakers and its military family programs. It uses the power of its collective resources and cross-sector collaborations to make a difference in the lives of hundreds of thousands of members of military families to strengthen the troops, their families, and our nation as a whole. For more information, click here.

SOURCE Blue Star Families