Relationships Between Substance Use and Recent Deployments Among Women and Men in the Military

Abstract

Relatively little is known about the proclivity of military personnel to engage in substance use during deployments that do not include direct combat, even though such use has negative implications for military readiness and the safety of personnel. Using data from the 1995 Department of Defense Survey of Health Related Behaviors Among Military Personnel, we examined whether substance use was associated with deployment in the past 30 days among women and men in the military. Regression models, controlling for sociodemographic factors, showed higher rates of heavy alcohol use among deployed women and men than among those not deployed. This relationship was particularly notable for women: Those deployed were almost 3 times more likely than their nondeployed counterparts to report heavy alcohol use. Among men in the military, deployment also was found to be associated with higher rates of cigarette use, nonheavy alcohol use, and alcohol dependence. Implications of these findings are discussed along with directions for future research.