The prolonged deployment of soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan during the past decade of war is taking a toll on the mental health of children whose parents serve, according to a new study.
The study, published this month by the American Medical Association, found 16.7 percent of the children included in the research received at least one mental health diagnosis from 2003 to 2006, mostly involving stress disorders or depression. Older children and boys in particular are adversely affected by a parent's deployment, according to the research. And children whose parents were deployed for longer periods fared worse than kids whose caretakers spent less time on active duty.
The study examined data for outpatient and specialty care medical visits between 2003 and 2006 for more than 300,000 children aged 5 to 17 of active-duty Army personnel serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. The length of deployment for military parents in the study was 11 months on average during the three-year period.
Mental health diagnoses among boys equaled or exceeded those among girls, except in three categories: somatoform or factitious disorders, neurotic stress disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. Somatoform disorder involves physical symptoms that indicate an illness or injury but cannot be explained by an actual medical condition, while people with factitious disorders deliberately feign or exaggerate symptoms.
By Kellie Lunney
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0711/070611kl1.htm
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