Children experienced increased incidences of stress and behavioral disorders while their military parents are deployed, according to a study published in Nov. 8 issues of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. The study, conducted by Dr. Gregory H. Gorman and Elisabeth Hisle-Gorman of the pediatric department of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., considered information gleaned from behavioral health visits and patient records between October 2005 and September 2007. In total, the researchers studied the cases of 642,397 children ages 3 to 8. "Older children and children with military fathers and married parents had larger increases in rates of mental and behavioral health visits during parental deployments," the researchers concluded. "In contrast, the overall outpatient rate and rates of visits for other diagnoses decreased when a parent was deployed." Overall, mental and behavioral health visits rose 11 percent during deployment, while behavioral disorders rose 19 percent and stress disorders rose 18 percent, according to the study. Rates were higher in older children, and children of male and married military parents.
