Abstract
BackgroundAround 8% of the UK Armed Forces leave in any given year, and must navigate unfamiliar civilian systems to acquire employment, healthcare, and other necessities. This paper determines longer-term prevalences of mental ill health and socioeconomic outcomes in UK Service leavers, and how they are related to demographic factors, military history, and pre-enlistment adversity.MethodsThis study utilised data from a longitudinal sample of a cohort study UK Armed Forces personnel since 2003. A range of self-reported military and sociodemographic factors were analysed as predictors of probable Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, common mental disorders, alcohol misuse, unemployment and financial hardship. Prevalences and odds ratios of associations between predictors and outcomes were estimated for regular veterans in this cohort.ResultsVeteran hardship was mostly associated with factors linked to socio-economic status: age, education, and childhood adversity. Few military-specific factors predicted mental health or socio-economic hardship, except method of leaving (where those leaving due to medical or unplanned discharge were more likely to encounter most forms of hardship as veterans), and rank which is itself related to socioeconomic status.ConclusionTransition and resettlement provisions become increasingly generous with longer service, yet this paper shows the need for those services becomes progressively less necessary as personnel acquire seniority and skills, and instead could be best targeted at unplanned leavers, taking socioeconomic status into consideration. Many will agree that longer service should be more rewarded, but the opposite is true if provision instead reflects need rather than length of service. This is a social, political and ethical dilemma.
Highlights
Around 8% of the UK Armed Forces leave in any given year, and must navigate unfamiliar civilian systems to acquire employment, healthcare, and other necessities
This study focuses on ex-regular veterans, and those still serving at last response were excluded; both those who were serving as a reserve, or were no longer serving but had only served as a reserve, were excluded as their civilian career history differs from regulars
Common mental disorders (CMD) is the most frequent negative outcome encountered by veterans, but a sizeable percentage experience PTSD, alcohol misuse, financial difficulties and unemployment, ranging from 7.4 to 11.8%
Summary
Around 8% of the UK Armed Forces leave in any given year, and must navigate unfamiliar civilian systems to acquire employment, healthcare, and other necessities. This paper determines longer-term prevalences of mental ill health and socioeconomic outcomes in UK Service leavers, and how they are related to demographic factors, military history, and pre-enlistment adversity. Around 15,000 (8%) members of the UK Armed Forces leave the Services each year [1]. The MoD evaluate the effectiveness of the resettlement process by following up individuals 6 months after leaving: employment rates for veterans who utilise the service are comparable to civilians, but despite the resettlement process a substantial proportion are unemployed within this six-month follow-up window: 7% of leavers 2017/2018 are unemployed, rising to 13% among those medically discharged [5]). There is a paucity of research regarding longer-term employment outcomes among UK Service leavers
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