| Parent's Deployment Puts Kids at High Risk for Problems |
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Wed September 2, 2009 From Adam Levine WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A third of military children surveyed who have a parent deployed in a war zone are at "high risk" for psychological problems, according to a new study by military doctors and researchers. The study, published in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, surveyed military spouses of deployed Army soldiers with school-age children, aged 5 to 12. The questionnaire appraised the strain on the family of dealing with a parent deployed to the war zone. Results found that stress levels were high for children and spouses of deployed troops but also that support networks from military to religious helped mitigate the problems. The number of children found to be high-risk is more than 2½ times the national level and higher than historical military samples. The authors surveyed 101 families in what they said was the first such evaluation since September 11, 2001, and the start of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Overall, there are more than 2 million U.S. military children, many of whom have parents who have deployed multiple times -- deployments that, for the first time since the Vietnam War, can occur as little as 12 months after returning from a previous deployment. The study focused on families of active-duty soldiers living on base at Fort Lewis, Washington, and is just a "small snapshot," said one of the authors, Col. Beth Ellen Davis. She is the chief of Developmental Services at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Washington. Follow the complete story on CNNHealth.com at http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/09/02/military.kids.stress/index.html |
