Deployment Takes Toll on Military Moms and Teens

April 16 -- WEDNESDAY, April 15 (HealthDay News) -- When military mothers are away at war, their teenage children are more likely to slip into trouble, from getting into fights to earning poor grades at school, a new study has found.

But adolescents whose mothers reported that they had strong family support during the deployment tended to fare better.

"Adolescents are in that difficult time of life where they are exposed to a lot of risk factors, possibly from their peer group," said study author Mona Ternus, an associate professor at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. "They are at an intermediate stage where they want to break away and be independent, but they still want their parent there. The deployment interrupts them in their developmental stage."

Ternus asked 77 mothers who were in the military to fill out detailed surveys about their health and including perceptions of their child's behavior before, during and after their deployment. The children ranged in age from 10 to 18, though most were between 12 and 15.

About 75 percent of the mothers said their children were engaged in no risky behavior before their deployment.

But during and after the deployment, about the same number reported that their children were engaged in one or more risky behaviors.

Risky behaviors during deployment included a drop in school grades (45 percent), eating poorly (25 percent), getting less exercise (17 percent), getting into fights (16 percent), smoking (10 percent), drinking alcohol (9 percent) and using drugs (4 percent).

Some of the behaviors, including poor eating habits, improved after the mother's return. Others, such as lower grades, persisted, the study found.

There was also a correlation between the number of symptoms the mother reported during deployment -- such as cough, headaches, joint pain, back pain, muscle aches, chest pain and difficulty breathing -- and the number of days she was deployed. The findings were presented recently at a meeting of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States in San Antonio, Texas.