Health Quality Program, School of Nursing, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
School of Rehabilitation Therapy, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Health Promot Chronic Dis Prev Can. 2023 Jun;43(6):290-298. doi: 10.24095/hpcdp.43.6.03.
The study objective was to compare the mental health and risk-taking behaviour of Canadian youth in military-connected families to those not in military-connected families in a contemporary sample. We hypothesized that youth in military-connected families have worse mental health, lower life satisfaction and greater engagement in risk-taking behaviours than those not in military-connected families.
This cross-sectional study used 2017/18 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children in Canada survey data, a representative sample of youth attending Grades 6 to 10. Questionnaires collected information on parental service and six indicators of mental health, life satisfaction and risk-taking behaviour. Multivariable Poisson regression models with robust error variance were implemented, applying survey weights and accounting for clustering by school.
This sample included 16 737 students; 9.5% reported that a parent and/or guardian served in the Canadian military. After adjusting for grade, sex and family affluence, youth with a family connection to the military were 28% more likely to report low well-being (95% CI: 1.17-1.40), 32% more likely to report persistent feelings of hopelessness (1.22-1.43), 22% more likely to report emotional problems (1.13-1.32), 42% more likely to report low life satisfaction (1.27-1.59) and 37% more likely to report frequent engagement in overt risk-taking (1.21-1.55).
Youth in military-connected families reported worse mental health and more risk-taking behaviours than youth not in military-connected families. The results suggest a need for additional mental health and well-being supports for youth in Canadian military-connected families and longitudinal research to understand underlying determinants that contribute to these differences.
本研究旨在比较有军人家庭背景的加拿大青少年与无军人家庭背景的青少年的心理健康和冒险行为。我们假设有军人家庭背景的青少年的心理健康状况更差，生活满意度更低，冒险行为更多。
本横断面研究使用了 2017/18 年加拿大在校儿童健康行为调查数据，该数据为参加 6 至 10 年级的青少年的代表性样本。问卷收集了父母服役情况和六个心理健康、生活满意度和冒险行为指标的信息。采用多变量泊松回归模型，使用稳健误差方差，对学校进行聚类加权。
该样本包括 16737 名学生；9.5%的学生报告其父母或监护人曾在加拿大军队服役。在调整年级、性别和家庭富裕程度后，与军人家庭有联系的青少年报告幸福感低的可能性高 28%（95%CI：1.17-1.40），持续感到绝望的可能性高 32%（1.22-1.43），情绪问题的可能性高 22%（1.13-1.32），生活满意度低的可能性高 42%（1.27-1.59），频繁从事明显冒险行为的可能性高 37%（1.21-1.55）。
有军人家庭背景的青少年报告的心理健康状况更差，冒险行为更多。结果表明，需要为有军人家庭背景的加拿大青少年提供更多的心理健康和幸福感支持，并进行纵向研究，以了解导致这些差异的潜在决定因素。
