Relationships of deployment and combat experiences to postdeployment negative health conditions among Army National Guard soldiers

Abstract

ABSTRACT An interest of researchers and practitioners has been postdeployment adjustment of returned soldiers, though the primary focus has been investigating the prevalence of psychiatric conditions. Less attention has been paid to nonclinical conditions, which still have posed significant adjustment problems for soldiers, in particular, for reserve soldiers who revert back to civilian life, family, and employment. The present study examined the occurrence of postdeployment problems among returned Army National Guard soldiers (N = 4,567 in 50 company-sized units). Survey items reliably indicated 7 problem areas. Highest prevalence of problems was being angry (35.9%) and being unable to sleep (43.3%), followed by alcohol abuse (25.1% reported 5 or more drinks in 1 day). Longer deployment lengths were associated with troubled relationships and aggression toward the significant other adult and children in the household. More deployments were associated with aggression toward household children. Self-reported general combat trauma and having killed or wounded someone were associated with all problem areas. Findings are discussed relative to how combat exposure likely alters soldiers’ perceptions and behaviors, including feelings of loneliness and isolation, and risk-taking behaviors of alcohol abuse and aggression toward others.