Child Mental Health Symptoms Following Parental Deployment: The Impact of Parental Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms, Marital Distress, and General Aggression

Abstract

The current study examined the impact of active duty service members’ symptoms following a combat deployment on child mental health symptoms. Soldiers from a brigade combat team ( N = 974) participated in the study 2 months following return from a 15-month combat deployment to Afghanistan, of which 169 soldiers (17.3%) reported having at least one child living at home. Results supported two research hypotheses examining the interrelationship between parental posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, general aggression, and marital distress on child mental health. First, the study documented a moderate association between parental PTSD symptoms and child mental health symptoms during the postdeployment reintegration period. This association was significant even after accounting for marital distress. Second, the study demonstrated that the impact of PTSD symptoms on child mental health symptoms may be explained by parental general aggression such that aggression mediated the PTSD symptoms–child mental health association.