Children's Reactions to the Desert Storm Deployment: Initial Findings from a Survey of Army Families

Abstract

Psychological symptom profiles were obtained on 1,601 children of soldiers deployed during Operation Desert Storm (ODS). The profiles were obtained from reports of the parents who stayed at home with the children. Certain symptoms such as sadness were common, but very few parents considered their children's problems serious enough to require counseling. The strongest predictor of children's receiving counseling during ODS was a previous history of being in counseling for emotional problems.