Study: Child abuse, troop deployment linked

[babylonsister]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-05-07-troops-child-abuse_N.htm?csp=34

Study: Child abuse, troop deployment linked

By Robert Davis and Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
Sending soldiers to war puts their children left at home at higher risk of abuse and neglect, says a study out Tuesday.


The study among military families shows that reports of emotional, physical and sexual abuse and child neglect peaked during the main deployment of troops to Iraq. When deployments began, reports of abuse quickly jumped from 5 in 1,000 children to 10 in 1,000.

The study found that victims were typically age 4 or younger and the abuser was usually the parent who remained at home while a spouse was deployed. Military families had lower rates of child maltreatment than civilian families before war. The study found that abuse rates soared when parents were sent to active duty.

"Among military personnel with at least one dependent, the rate of child maltreatment in military families increased by approximately 30% for each 1% increase in the percentage of active-duty personnel departing to or returning from operation-related deployment," according to the study, in the May 15 issue of American Journal of Epidemiology, out today.

"The stress of war extends beyond the soldier and the military personnel to impact the family," said lead researcher Danielle Rentz, now an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She conducted the study while at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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