Postdeployment Alcohol Use and Risk Associated With Deployment Experiences, Combat Exposure, and Postdeployment...

A continued health concern of the U.S. military has been unhealthy alcohol use by its service members, in particular among several subpopulations--the deployed, the combat-exposed, and the reserve component. This study provides prevalence estimates of post-deployment alcohol use among recently deployed Army National Guard (ARNG) personnel and compares the rates with those of soldiers in previously published studies. We also examine deployment experiences and combat events associated with postdeployment alcohol use and the role of negative emotions in this relationship.

Study data were cross-sectional, retrospective soldier responses to an ongoing survey of health and well-being, called the Reintegration Unit Risk Inventory. The study sample consisted of recently returned Operation Iraqi Freedom ARNG soldiers (N = 4,567 in 50 companies), many of whom had participated in combat. Soldiers' alcohol use was compared with that of a sample of ARNG soldiers serving in their traditional part-time military service role who had responded to the Unit Risk Inventory, as well as with alcohol use reported in the research literature for deployed military personnel. Relationships among deployment and combat experiences, negative emotions, and postdeployment alcohol use were examined using multiple regression and mediation analyses.

Combat events were associated with unhealthy alcohol use during postdeployment. In addition, postdeployment negative emotions mediated this relationship.

Findings have implications for understanding the trauma-alcohol use relationship and for prevention of unhealthy alcohol use among military personnel.