Absence of a Link Between Childhood Parental Military Service on Depression and Anxiety Disorders Among College Students

• Published in: Military medicine Vol. 183; no. 9-10; pp. e502 - e508
• Main Authors: Johnson, Nathan H, Vidal, Carol, Lilly, Flavius R W
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Oxford University Press 01.09.2018
• Subjects: Anxiety disorders; Child & adolescent mental health; College students; Mental depression; Mental health; Military deployment; Military service; Parents & parenting; Post traumatic stress disorder; Questionnaires; Systematic review; Teenagers; United States > US; Afghanistan; Iraq
• ISSN: 0026-4075; 1930-613X
• DOI: 10.1093/milmed/usy003

Current prevalence estimates are 15% for depression and 20% for anxiety disorders among college students. These disorders are known to negatively impact academic achievement and persistence. It is important to understand the effects of parental military service on the mental health of children across development. The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of being raised in a military household on current and historical depression and anxiety disorders among college students. The Patient Health Questionnaire-2, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 questionnaire, and history of previous depression or anxiety diagnoses were used to determine mental health outcomes. Survey questions regarding parental military service and its nature and demographic covariates comprised the remainder of the instrument. Participants were 299 college students aged 18 yr and over and enrolled in a large, urban-based, state research university. There was a positive correlation between parental military service and the odds of having been previously diagnosed with or treated for depression (OR = 1.97, r = 0.126, p ≤ 0.05). However, after multivariate adjustment for demographic covariates, statistical significance was not maintained. These findings continue to draw attention to potential health disparities associated with growing up in a military household. However, these results also suggest that children of military families exhibit significant resilience and that parental military service may not be a reliable predictor of mental health issues among college students after accounting for the influence of demographic factors. These findings may have implications for health care providers who treat dependents of military service members.