Study Finds War, Deployments Exhausting Army Spouses

[Hissyspit]

http://www.fayobserver.com/Articles/2010/01/14/968041

Published: 07:32 PM, Wed Jan 13, 2010
Study finds war, deployments exhausting Army spouses

Staff writer
By Jennifer Calhoun

Wives of soldiers deployed to war zones are more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety and sleep disorders than women whose husbands are home, according to a study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Researchers from UNC and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences examined medical records of more than 250,000 women married to active-duty soldiers. They reviewed records for outpatient care received between 2003 and 2006.

Research found that more than 36 percent of women with deployed husbands had at least one mental health diagnosis, compared with 30.5 percent of women whose husbands were not deployed.

Alyssa Mansfield, who conducted the research while a doctoral student at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, said the study confirmed what many people had suspected: Army spouses are feeling the stress of deployments.

Mansfield said spouses of soldiers deployed to war zones fear for their husband's safety, but they also deal with increased responsibilities at home and with children and increased marital strain that comes with being apart for an uncertain amount of time.

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1. They needed to do a study for that?