The impact of deployment on the psychological health status, level of alcohol consumption, and use of psychological health resources of postdeployed U.S. Army Reserve soldiers.

This study was conducted to investigate the impact of deployment on the psychological health status, level of alcohol consumption, and use of psychological health resources of postdeployed Army Reserve (AR) soldiers. Data were collected from 51,078 postdeployed AR soldiers via DD Form 2900 to detect existing psychological and medical issues. As predicted, findings indicate that AR soldiers screened 7 or more months post redeployment are significantly more likely than those screened 3 to 6 months post redeployment to screen positive for moderate (chi2 (1, N = 44,319) = 15.75, p < 0.001) and severe (chi2 (1, N = 44,319) = 7.82, p < 0.05) functional impairment and PTSD (chi2 (1, N = 51,017) = 14.43, p < 0.001). Present findings are consistent with previous research, suggesting that adverse psychological health issues can be detected during their mild stages and resolved to prevent further degradation when screenings are performed according to military policy.