Young children in US military families face risks

A new study shows that the effects of US wars can take long-lasting toll on young children, under the age of 6, in American military families.

A report released Monday by Child Trends, a nonprofit research center, found that young children can exhibit the same anxiety, depression, stress and aggression that some older children and adults experience in military families.

When a parent goes to war, young children would be vulnerable to adverse outcomes, the report said, “because of their emotional dependence on adults and their developing brains’ susceptibility to high level of stress.”

According to the study, half a million children younger than six have an active-duty parent-and some have two. That means nearly half of all active-duty service members have children, and 14 percent of those service members are single parents.

During the Vietnam War, only 15 percent of active-duty troops were parents and most of them were men. But now, mothers make up 16 percent of the active-duty force, according to the research.

David Murphey, Child Trends researcher and the report’s author, said, “We’re concerned that children exposed to stressful events, particularly traumatic stressful events, will have difficulty learning to cope with emotions, to do well socially and academically, and even have problems with their physical health.”

“As these younger children grow up, we can expect there will be at least a subset of them that will face very substantial problems.”

The report recommends providing better mental health support for military families as two-thirds of military families live outside the environment of military bases, where greater health support is accessible.