The impact of deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan on military children: A review of the literature

Abstract

The aim of this review is to evaluate what is known about the impact on children of parental deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan. We searched for relevant studies with a minimum sample size of 50 which were published between 2003 and 2010 using Google Scholar, MEDLINE, PubMed, PsycINFO and Web of Science. Bibliographies of retrieved articles were also searched. Nine US-based studies were identified for inclusion in the review, five were cross-sectional, two were longitudinal and two were analyses of routinely collected data. Researchers found an increase in emotional and behavioral problems in children when a parent was deployed. Several mediating factors were identified, such as the family demographics and the number and duration of parental deployments. Parental psychopathology was most consistently identified as a risk factor for childhood emotional and behavioral disorders in the research. Limitations of the current research and subsequent recommendations for future research are also outlined.

Declaration of interest: H. Thomas de Burgh is employed by the UK Armed Forces and based in Warwick Medical School. Claire White and Amy Iversen are employees of the King's Centre for Military Health Research and Nicola Fear is an employee of the Academic Centre for Defence Mental Health. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.