Child Maltreatment Rises in Homes of Soldiers Sent to War

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In 2004, there were more than 1.1 million American military families with children younger than 18.

Although there is not a long history of research in this field, previous studies have found that children of parents in the U.S. military serving in Iraq and elsewhere have higher blood pressure, heart rates and stress levels than other youngsters, and that children from military families are twice as likely to die from severe abuse as other children are.

Gibbs and her colleagues looked at confirmed incidents of child maltreatment by a parent in 1,771 families of enlisted U.S. Army soldiers who had been deployed to combat at least once between September 2001 and December 2004.

In total, 1,858 parents in these families had maltreated their children. The overall rate of child maltreatment was 42 percent higher during the times when the soldier-parents were deployed, compared to when they weren't deployed.

Moderate or severe maltreatment was 61 percent higher during deployment periods as compared to non-deployment periods.

While rates of child neglect were nearly double during deployment, the rate of physical abuse was less.

The rate of maltreatment by female civilian spouses was more than triple during times of deployment. Male civilians had a higher rate of maltreatment during these periods, but not significantly so, the study found.

The rate of child neglect by civilian female spouses was nearly four times the rate at other times.

"When people are stressed, there's a much higher likelihood of abuse. It's true of any situation," Bramson said. "Also, most abusers were themselves abused. The key is preventing abuse, so you don't raise kids who are going to go on to be abusers. Luckily, there's more interest in trying to create community interventions. One of the major things is awareness, and that's why I'm excited about this coming from the military. That's going to get some attention."

Among the themed issue's other reports:

• Almost 40 percent of Nepalese sex-trafficked girls and women, many forced into prostitution, who were repatriated tested positive for HIV infection.
• Group psychotherapy helped reduce depression among displaced adolescent girls who had survived war in northern Uganda. The interventions were less effective among adolescent boys.
• Former Ugandan and Congolese child soldiers who have more symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are less likely to be open to reconciliation and are more likely to have feelings of revenge.
• Adults displaced by war in northern Uganda have high rates of PTSD and depression. They are also more likely to favor violent means to end the conflict, compared to people without comparable symptoms.

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