Counseling Youth About Military Service Options and Selective Service Registration: An Integral Part of Anticipatory Guidance of Adolescents

Abstract

Pediatricians play a crucial role in counseling adolescents about numerous aspects of health and well-being. Anticipatory guidance for this age group includes discussion of risk-taking behaviors; drug, tobacco, and alcohol use; depression and suicide; sexuality and safe sex practices; family planning and dynamics; eating disorders; and a wide variety of other health and developmentally related topics.1–4 Counseling this age group may also include issues related to planning for higher education and future vocation. I propose that anticipatory guidance of adolescents should also include discussion about military service and alternatives, the laws regarding registration (and consequences for failure to register) with the Selective Service System (SSS), and the medical and psychological effects of war. Specific developmental challenges face adolescents who opt for (United States) or are required to participate in (many other countries) military service. By late adolescence, individuals have usually developed the ability to think in abstract terms, plan for their future, and engage in independent life choices,5 yet this age group still lacks full psychosocial maturation. Exposure to the demands of military service (absolute conformity and obedience, lack of independence, separation from family, real risk of physical harm) places unique stresses on adolescents in peacetime and even more so during times of war.5 The purpose of this commentary is to raise awareness among pediatricians and other providers of adolescent health care about current SSS laws, possible changes to such laws that could occur at any time, and options available to adolescents who, by reason of conscience, choose not to participate in military service or perhaps even register with the SSS. To my knowledge, this topic is rarely if ever discussed in the context of anticipatory guidance of adolescents facing educational and career choices, and extensive search of the literature failed to reveal any references … Address correspondence to Carl E. Stafstrom, MD, PhD, Department of Neurology, H6-528, University of Wisconsin, 600 Highland Ave, Madison, WI 53792. E-mail: stafstrom{at}neurology.wisc.edu