Military Exposures Predict Mental Health Symptoms in Explosives Personnel but Not Always as Expected

ABSTRACT Objective The aim of this study was to determine the unique and combined associations of various military stress exposures with positive and negative mental health symptoms in active duty service members. Materials and Methods We investigated 87 male U.S. Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) technicians (age M ± SE, range 33.7 ± 0.6, 22-47 years). Those who endorsed a positive traumatic brain injury diagnosis were excluded to eliminate the confounding effects on mental health symptoms. Using a survey platform on a computer tablet, EOD technicians self-reported combat exposure, deployment frequency (total number of deployments), blast exposure (vehicle crash/blast or 50-m blast involvement), depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress, perceived stress, and life satisfaction during an in-person laboratory session. Results When controlling for other military stressors, EOD technicians with previous involvement in a vehicle crash/blast endorsed worse mental health than their nonexposed counterparts. The interactions of vehicle crash/blast with deployment frequency and combat exposure had moderate effect sizes, and combat and deployment exposures demonstrated protective, rather than catalytic, effects on negative mental health scores. Conclusions Military stressors may adversely influence self-reported symptoms of negative mental health, but deployment experience and combat exposure may confer stress inoculation.

Demographic Variation in Military Life Stress and Perceived Support Among Military Spouses

ABSTRACT Introduction Military spouses play a critical role in supporting military service members, and thus, their experiences may have a significant impact on the well-being, readiness, and resilience of the U.S. Armed Forces. Research suggests that military spouses experience unique stressors as a result of military life, but few studies have assessed demographic factors associated with their experiences of military life and perceived support. Materials and Methods Using data from the Millennium Cohort Family Study, a nationwide survey of 9,872 married spouses of service members with 2 to 5 years of military service, this study examined differences in experiences of military life and perceived support across multiple understudied subgroups of military spouses. Key outcomes included military-related stressors (e.g., deployment-related experiences), perceived social support, and perceived military efforts to provide support. Results Military life stress and perceived support differed across military spouse, service member, and family characteristics. Results indicated that spouses who are older than age 35 or are married to enlisted service members in the Army, Navy, or Marines are more likely to experience heightened military stress or less perceived social support. Dual-military couples reported experiencing less stress associated with military life and perceiving more social support and support from the military, compared with spouses who have never served in the military. Conclusion These findings may help guide effective channeling of resources and outreach to potentially vulnerable military families.

Influence of Work and Life Stressors on Marital Quality among Dual and Nondual Military Couples

Maintaining a healthy marriage may be challenging for military couples as they attempt to balance the demands of work and family; for dual-military couples, this can be even more challenging. Using data from the Millennium Cohort Family Study, we examined whether military stress experiences negatively impact marital quality through the mediation of work–family conflict. Spouse gender and dual-military status were included as moderators. Spouses reported on marital quality, work–family conflict, military stress experiences, and personal military experience. Spouse and service member demographics were also included. Results demonstrated that experiencing more military stress experiences was related to lower marital quality, which was mediated by work–family conflict. Additionally, female dual spouses reported lower marital quality than male dual spouses and civilian spouses. Findings from this study highlight the importance of providing support to military spouses for stressful military events and potentially tailoring support services for female dual spouses to improve marital quality.

Femoral neck stress fractures from long distance running: a case series

Femoral neck stress fractures (FNSFs) comprise 3% of all sport-related fractures, and 8% of military stress fractures. They are associated with significant morbidity; if they develop subsequent avascular necrosis of the femoral head, from late detection and fracture displacement, they require a total hip replacement in a young active individual.Knowledge of the different patterns of FNSFs, their varying presentations and their different management techniques is key for sports and military health professionals involved in the care of these injuries, to ensure optimal treatment and outcome.We report four cases of FNSFs from long distance running. Three of the four athletes returned to long distance running following their injury at mean of 7 months; however, despite two athletes participating in marathon running pre-injury, none returned to marathon running post-injury.All clinicians involved with such patients should always remain vigilant for FNSFs in any patient who presents with exercise-related hip or groin pain.