11 Facts About Military Families

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1. Military spouses tend to be under 35 and are largely female.^[American Legion Auxiliary. "HomeFront." Indiana University, 2008.]
2. Only 5% of military spouses are men.^[Mental Health Advisory Team 9. http://armymedicine.mil/Documents/MHAT_9_OEF_Report.pdf. 2013 (accessed Nov 5, 2014).]
3. Nearly 20% of service members in Iraq and Afghanistan experience acute stress, depression, and/or anxiety. Getting thank-you notes has a positive impact on soldiers' moods. Send cards to deployed soldiers to let them know we appreciate their service! Sign up for Smiles for Soldiers.^[Mental Health Advisory Team 9. http://armymedicine.mil/Documents/MHAT_9_OEF_Report.pdf. 2013 (accessed Nov 5, 2014).]
4. Military families relocate 10 times more often than civilian families -- on average, every 2 or 3 years.^[Dickler, Jessica. "Military families face financial hurdles." CNN Money. http://money.cnn.com/2012/03/27/pf/military-families/. March 27, 2012 (accessed Nov 4, 2014).]
5. Service members are more likely to be married at a younger age and have young children at home compared to their civilian counterparts.^[Clever, Molly and David R. Segal. "The Demographics of Military Children and Families." The Future of Children, Princeton-Brookings. Journal Issue: Military Children and Families Volume 23 Number 2 Fall 2013.]
6. Since 2001, more than 2 million American children have had a parent deployed at least once.^[Clever, Molly and David R. Segal. "The Demographics of Military Children and Families." The Future of Children, Princeton-Brookings. Journal Issue: Military Children and Families Volume 23 Number 2 Fall 2013.]
7. More than 900,000 children have experienced the deployment of one or both parents multiple times.^[Grisolano Center for Neurodevelopment. "Academic and Mental Impact of Deployment on Children." http://www.grisolano.com/the-impact-deployment-children-academically-mentally/ (accessed Nov 4, 2014).]
8. Children in military families experience high rates of mental health, trauma, and related problems. About 30% reported feeling sad or hopeless almost every day for 2 weeks during the past 12 months. Nearly 1 in 4 reported having considered suicide.^[Cederbaum, Julie A., et al. "Well-Being and Suicidal Ideation of Secondary School Students From Military Families." Journal of Adolescent Health, Volume 54, Issue 6, Pages 672–677, June 2014.]
9. 37% of children with a deployed parent reported that they seriously worry about what could happen to their deployed caretaker.^[Orthner, Dennis K.; Rose, Roderick 2005. SAF V Survey Report: Adjustment of Army Children to Deployment Separations (Survey Report). Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.]
10. Multiple and prolonged deployment also has an effect on spouses, with 36.6% of women having at least one mental health diagnosis compared to 30% of women whose husbands were not deployed.^[Mansfield, Alyssa J., et al. "Deployment and the Use of Mental Health Services among U.S. Army Wives." N Engl J Med 2010; 362:101-109, Jan 14, 2010. http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa0900177 (accessed Nov 4, 2014).]
11. Bereavement experts report that for each active duty military loss, an average of 10 people are significantly impacted. In the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, an estimated 68,360 family members have been significantly impacted.^[U.S. Department of Defense, and the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors. "TAPS Fact Sheet & Statistics on Families of the Fallen Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) ." http://www.taps.org/uploadedFiles/TAPS/RESOURCES/Documents/FactSheet.pdf and http://www.defense.gov/news/casualty.pdf. Sep 26, 2014 (accessed Nov 4, 2014).]