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Home front: post-deployment mental health and divorces
Brighita Negrusa1, Sebastian Negrusa
1The Lewin Group, Falls Church, VA, USA, brighita.negrusa@lewin.com.
Demography
|May 1, 2014
Summary
Military deployments and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms increase divorce risk for U.S. Army soldiers. The impact is greater for officers and female soldiers, with effects concentrated early in careers.
Area of Science:
- Military Medicine
- Psychiatry
- Sociology
Background:
- Approximately 14% of U.S. Army soldiers report posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms post-deployment since 2003.
- Military service, particularly deployments, can impact mental health and relationships.
- Divorce is a significant outcome affecting military personnel and their families.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between post-deployment mental health conditions, including PTSD, and divorce probability in married, active-duty U.S. Army soldiers.
- To determine how deployment duration and PTSD symptoms influence divorce risk across different soldier demographics (enlisted vs. officers, gender).
Main Methods:
- Utilized longitudinal, individual-level data from Army administrative records.
- Combined deployment history, marital status, and sociodemographic information.
- Integrated self-reported post-deployment health data, focusing on PTSD symptoms.
Main Results:
- Increased deployment time correlates with higher divorce risk for enlisted personnel.
- PTSD symptoms significantly elevate the odds of divorce, with a stronger association observed in officers compared to enlisted soldiers.
- Female soldiers experience a greater deployment impact on divorce risk; PTSD impact is not gender-differentiated.
- The effects of PTSD symptoms on divorce are most pronounced early in the careers of frequently deploying soldiers.
Conclusions:
- Deployment duration and PTSD symptoms are significant risk factors for divorce among U.S. Army soldiers.
- The relationship between PTSD and divorce risk varies by rank, being more pronounced in officers.
- Interventions addressing mental health and relationship support for soldiers, especially during early career stages and for female soldiers, may mitigate divorce risk.
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