The physical costs of war are apparent and undeniable. However, the psychological effects can be just as detrimental, and even more so. A study was conducted in 2008 investigating what the psychological consequences of having a deployed parent would be for their children. Ten thousand students from Washington D.C. were surveyed, 550 of which had at least one parent that was in active duty. The kids were selected from 8th, 10th and 12th grades. This sample is only 0.0003% of the 2 million children of the United States that had a parent that was in active duty last year. The stress of the parent being away from home, and even the stress of when they return with their own mental or physical struggles, wears heavily on a young person. Young people with these mental stressors often have a greater tendency toward violence. When asked if they had been involved in a fight 14% of girls and 28% of boys in these military families responded in the affirmative. In addition, girls from these military families were twice as likely to carry weapons to school and three times more likely to join a gang or participate in a fight.
This research sheds light on suspicions that were already present. Showing that even though the effects to those directly involved in conflicts are tragic, it does not stop there; the waterfall of tragedy continues to those close to the soldiers. This study was only on one state in the US, this does not even hint at the ramifications of war on youth in this way on a global level.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/oct/31/violence-more-common-among-kids-of-comb-373777549/
This post was very interesting. I never thought that those kids would be more prone to violence.
ReplyDeleteWow girls are more likely to carry weapons or join gangs? I would've thought this would be boys but it makes me wonder what the reasoning is behind the girls. I could see how the stress of losing a parent weighs on a child but I never thought they would turn to violence.
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