Combat-Deployed Parent's Kids Show Behavioural Problems

By Devaki

Tuesday, April 13, 2010, 12:20

Children of combat-deployed parents show increased worries, even after the parent has returned, says a new American study. The number and length of the repeated deployments cause higher level of anxiety in children. This anxiety will persist even after the deployed parent returns home, says the psychological experts.

Such children will also show indices of resilience and the experiences of other types of emotional and behavioural problems.

The level of anxiety children experience can be predicted by the amount of psychological distress shown by both the active-duty parent and the at-home parent. In general , a child's level of distress is linked to parental distress.

The school-aged boys and girls behave differently during and after a parent's deployment. Girls showed an increase in acting out and disruptive behaviour when the parent was deployed, while boys appeared to have more difficulties after the deployed parent returned. For the boys, this is related to reduced autonomy and increased structure in the family life upon the return of the deployed parent, finds the experts.

The study was conducted by Dr. Patricia Lester, UCLA assistant professor of Psychiatry. Lester and her team assessed 171 families in which either one parent was on active duty, currently deployed or recently returned from serving in the places like Iraq or Afghanistan. Lester and team say that planning is needed for extended military operations to take into account the impact on family members. They also suggested that there is a cumulative wear and tear upon the military family from multiple deployments during wartime.

The research has appeared in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.