Children Have Military Parents Involved Vulnerable Violence

the loss of a parent figure who always accompany and support negatively affects the mental development of adolescents. Recent research shows that teenagers whose parents served in the field as a member of the military tend to frequent fights, carrying weapons and join the gang.

Researchers at the School of Public Health University of Washington examined data collected from over 10,000 public school students grade 8, 10 and 12 who participated in the survey of 2008 Washington State Healthy Youth.

In 8th grade students, children whose parents are military duty have 1.77 times greater risk of getting into fights and have a 2.14 times higher chance to join the gang. While in girls, the risk to carry weapons has doubled.


Among students in grade 10 and 12, the daughter of parents who undergo military 2.8 times more likely to become gang members, 2.6 times more likely to get into fights and 2.2 times more likely to carry weapons.

While the boys, they were 2.87 times more likely to carry weapons, 2.48 times more likely to engage in fights and 2.08 times more likely to join the gang.

According to the researchers as reported from HealtDay, Wednesday (02/11/2011), the cause is when parents are deployed to the field because of military duties, the children lose the opportunity to learn positive behaviors.

"This study raises serious concerns about the consequences of war is less a concern. This is a real problem faced daily by countless families. There is an opportunity to intervene and offer the support needed by children who are particularly vulnerable to negative influences this, so they do not turn to violence as a way to fix the problem, "said lead researcher, Sarah Reed.

The researchers asked for greater support of school programs and community-based programs to improve health and safety of teens from military families. In 2010, nearly 2 million children in the United States have at least one parent who served in the military.