Perceptions of the impact a military career has on children

BACKGROUND: The perceived effects of a military career on service personnel's children have been largely overlooked.

AIMS: To examine the views of military personnel about the impact their career has on their children in relation to socio-demographic variables, military characteristics and mental health symptoms.

METHODS: Service personnel (regular and reserve) with one or more children (<18 years) were included. Data were taken from a large UK military cohort study completed between 2007 and 2009. Participants were asked to report whether they viewed their military career as having a positive, negative or no impact on their children.

RESULTS: There were 3198 participants. Just over half (51%) of service personnel perceived their military career as having a negative impact on their children. Not being in a relationship (multinomial odds ratio 2.65, 95% CI 1.81-3.88), deployment for 13 months or more within a 3 year period (1.85, 1.31-2.62), symptoms of common mental health disorder (2.21, 1.65-2.96) and probable post-traumatic stress disorder (3.26, 1.39-7.66) were associated with perceiving military career as affecting children negatively. Reserves were less likely than regulars (0.37, 0.27-0.51) and other ranks were less likely than non-commissioned officers (0.67, 0.46-0.98) to report negative effects of their military career on their children.

CONCLUSIONS: Contrary to previous research findings, regulars were more likely to report a negative impact, reflecting this study's focus on the wider military context, rather than just deployment. These findings are consistent with existing research showing links between deployment length and negative impact.