Military man hugs daughter (Shutterstock)
Since 2001, more than two million military children have been
separated from a parent in the United States military due to
combat deployments. Now, a
new study from researchers at the Uniformed Services
University of the Health Sciences suggests the impact of
separation — and reunification — deeply affects these daughters
and sons. Young children of deployed military parents, when
compared to kids whose military parents remained at home, more
frequently visited medical providers for injuries, mental health
problems, and maltreatment. Sadly, an even higher risk of harm
impacted those children who were reunited with a combat-injured
parent.
Being part of a family is life's greatest joy, as most of us
are blessed to know, yet it also requires effort and practice.
So what happens when a parent dramatically leaves to fight a
war? Throughout the years of military involvement in Afghanistan
and Iraq, many American military families “have experienced at
least one deployment, and many have undergone multiple,
involving three, four, or even five or more family separations
and reunifications,” wrote Dr. Stephen J. Cozza in
an accompanying editorial.. “Others have struggled with
combat-related psychiatric disorders, such as post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD) and physical injuries, including
traumatic brain injury (TBI), which can affect children and
families for years.”
For this study, a group of researchers led by Dr. Elizabeth
Hisle-Gorman, gathered data from the U.S. Military Health System
in order to analyze utilization patterns for 487,460 children
between the ages of 3 and 8. The team calculated the number of
times children of parents who deployed saw a doctor about a
mental health issue, injury, or maltreatment. Next, the
researchers calculated the same for kids whose parents deployed
and returned injured and then for children whose parents never
deployed.
Of the children studied, 12 percent (58,479) had a parent
deploy, while one percent (5,405) had a parent injured
during deployment.
Children of deployed and combat-injured parents had 1.09 and
1.67, respectively, additional visits for a mental
health diagnosis; 1.07 and 1.24, respectively, for an injury;
and 1.21 and 2.30, respectively, for maltreatment, when compared
to kids whose parents did not deploy.
The researchers call for increased preventive services and
interventions as parents return from deployments. They also
noted in their conclusion, “child health and mental health
providers are crucial to effective identification of these
at-risk children.”
In a
previous study documented in Social Work Today,
teens and older children reported difficulties adjusting to a
deployed parent’s absence, noting in particular the increased
responsibility and stress. After the parent returned from
combat, these same teens reported challenges with getting to
know their parent again. Whether a break in the family structure
occurs temporarily or permanently, children feel it deeply.
Source: Hisle-Gorman E, Harrington D, Nylund CM, et al.
Impact of Parents’ Wartime Military Deployment and Injury on
Young Children’s Safety and Mental Health. Journal of the
American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. 2015.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/03/children-of-deployed-military-personnel-more-prone-to-accidents-study/