Mental Health, Alcohol Use, and Associations with Pre-deployment Family Functioning in Active-duty Service Members

AbstractAs service members prepare to deploy, poor mental health and increased alcohol use associated with the difficulties of the pre-deployment period may negatively impact service members’ family functioning. The etiology of poor family functioning may also differ for men and women serving in the military. The current study recruited U.S. military service members (N = 343, 28% women, 59% White) preparing to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan to examine the effects of symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress, post-traumatic stress (PTS), and alcohol use (frequency and quantity) on family functioning. We also sought to identify whether those effects differed between genders. Across participants, PTS was the only factor significantly associated with worse family functioning (β = .01, SE = .00, t(251.99) = 2.03, p = .043), however the effect of depression was similar in magnitude and trending toward significance (β = .01, SE = .00, t(297.49) = 1.96, p = .051). Interactions between gender, mental health, and alcohol use were non-significant. Findings suggest that addressing service members’ PTS and depression symptoms pre-deployment could improve family functioning. Gender may not be a major factor for pre-deployment mental health and family functioning, although more research is warranted. Contrary to expectations, alcohol use was unrelated to family functioning. Future studies should consider using measures of drinking that capture alcohol-related problems in addition to consumption. As service members prepare to deploy, it is important to understand which factors are most impactful on family functioning as this may help target preventative interventions during the pre-deployment stage.Keywords: Militarypre-deploymentfamily functioningmental healthanxietydepressionstressposttraumatic stressalcohol usegender differences Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).