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Half of Canadian soldiers were abused as children, study indicates
Incidence much higher in military than general population, Canadian-led research indicates
By Kas Roussy, CBC NewsPosted: Jan 27, 2016 11:04 AM ET|Last Updated: Jan 27, 2016 12:27 PM ET
About half of Canada's soldiers have a history of child abuse, which is significantly higher than the general population, indicates a new study led by a Manitoba researcher.
"We thought it was really an important finding...," says Tracie Afifi, associate professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of Manitoba and lead author of the research released Wednesday by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Psychiatry.
The incidence of adults who were abused as children is 31 per cent in the general population, according to the study, which also involved the Canadian Forces Health Services Group Headquarters in Ottawa and the University of Ottawa.
The research backs up similar findings in the U.S. which showed a higher prevalence of childhood abuse (of various forms) among the military compared to civilians.
"What we know about people coming out of dysfunctional families is they often gravitate towards environments where there is structure and safety," says Dr. Greg Passey, a Vancouver psychiatrist who served 22 years in the Canadian military. He was not involved in the study.
Part of his deployment was in Rwanda in 1994, where he was part of a mental health team, assessing stress in Canadian troops.
"What we know about the Canadian military environment, it is like a very large family. There's very clear boundaries and rules," said Passey. "Overall it makes sense that individuals with childhood sexual abuse or just abuse in general would gravitate towards the military."
But for the first time, researchers also compared the association between childhood abuse and suicidal tendencies among the Canadian Armed Forces and Canadians in general.
And, perhaps surprisingly, they found that the link between childhood abuse and suicide was in fact weaker for military personnel compared to the Canadian general population.
"It tells us perhaps there might be something going on that is protective by being in the military," said Afifi. "That could be related to selection process where the military may be selecting more resilient individuals."
Passey agreed.
"In the military, we are taught to cope with very stressful situations," he said. "Our military members, despite a history of childhood abuse, would be better at coping with stressful situations and therefore less likely to have suicidal ideations versus the general population."
An accompanying editorial in JAMA Psychiatry says the findings are important for how scientists and health care professionals "tackle the issue of understanding health outcomes, including suicide risk, among individuals who have bravely served their countries."
http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/child-abuse-military-1.3421708