LOS ANGELES, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Children from military families may have more emotional problems than other families, especially when the parents are deployed overseas, according to a study by RAND Corporation.
RAND, a private think tank in Los Angeles which usually does research for the military, found in a study released on Monday that having a parent deployed for a longer period of time and having a non-deployed parent who has struggled with emotional problems were important factors associated with whether military children would struggle themselves.
The findings are from a RAND survey that examined the wartime well-being of 1,500 children from military families from across the U.S., surveying both the children and a non-deployed parent or other caregiver.
The major findings of the study show that children in military families experienced emotional and behavioral difficulties at rates above national averages.
About one-third of the children reported symptoms of anxiety, which is somewhat higher than the percentage reported in other studies of children, the study shows.
Self-reported problems varied by age and gender: Older youths and boys reported more difficulties with school and more problem behaviors, such as fighting; greater numbers of younger children (compared with older children) and girls reported anxiety symptoms, according to the study.
The findings also revealed challenges posed specifically by deployment of U.S. troops overseas.
According to the study, longer periods of parental deployment (within the past three years) were linked to greater difficulties in children's social and emotional functioning, at least based on caregiver reports.
Deployment-related challenges varied by age and gender: Older youths experienced greater school- and peer-related difficulties during deployment; girls experienced greater difficulties during the period of reintegration than did boys, the study says.
Children whose caregivers had better self-reported mental health were better able to cope with the deployment experience both during and after, according to the study.
Also, living on-base was linked with reduced difficulties both during and after deployment.
The results represent an important first step in understanding the link between parental deployment and military child and family well-being, according to RAND.
The findings suggest the need for more research to improve understanding in several areas, including the link between caregiver mental health and child well-being and the reasons why girls and older youth may be reporting more challenges with deployment, the study says.
The results also highlight several avenues for possible intervention. For example, families may benefit from targeted support to deal with stressors from multiple months of deployment, rather than only during initial months. Further, families in which caregivers face mental health issues may need more support for both caregiver and child, according to the study.
"While this finding may seem intuitive, our study begins to shed more light on the nature of the problem. Much more work is needed to better understand these challenges and to improve ways to support children throughout the deployment cycle," said Anita Chandra, the study's lead author and a behavioral scientist at RAND.
The RAND study is the largest to date that explores how the children of military members are faring academically, socially and emotionally during an extended period of wartime.
"Our nation did not anticipate such protracted conflicts. We owe it to military families to better understand and address the challenges they are facing today, and may face tomorrow," said Mary Scott, chairman of the board of governors of the National Military Family Association.
RAND researchers say the study was intended to provide a broad snapshot of the challenges facing military children and their families, particularly during deployment.
In 2009, about 2 million U.S. children had a parent in either the active or reserve component of the military, according to RAND.
"Our findings suggest that the more time parents are away, the more likely it is that children will experience problems" said Sandraluz Lara-Cinisomo, a study co-author and RAND researcher.
The impact of more cumulative months of deployment was more pronounced among girls, particularly during the reintegration period once a parent returns home, according to the study.
Researchers say this may be linked to girls taking on additional household duties when a parent is deployed and issues related to connecting emotionally with an absent parent, who is usually a father.
Chandra said researchers also were somewhat surprised to find that older children reported so many problems related to a parental deployment. Most earlier studies that examined military children focused on the problems experienced by younger children.
The study's findings that the emotional health of a non-deployed parent is closely linked with the emotional well-being of their children suggests that more services may be needed for the spouses of those who are deployed, Chandra said.
