Washington, July 05: A new study in the United States suggests that the children of deployed soldiers are more susceptible to develop metal illnesses than other kids.
Children with a parent deployed in Iraq for long periods of time were more likely to receive a mental health diagnosis, a report published on Monday in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine shows.
The study included 307,520 children, aged between 5 and 17, with at least one parent serving in active duty in the US Army.
Compared to children whose parents were not deployed, children with parental deployment had more problems with acute stress, depressive and pediatric behavioral disorders.
More military children are being prescribed psychiatric drugs, according to a report from the Army Times.
Overall, in 2009, more than 300,000 prescriptions for psychiatric drugs were given to children under 18 who are Tricare beneficiaries. That is up 18 percent since 2005, according to data provided to Army Times.
The project was led by the University of North Carolina.
——–Agencies