Military Deployments and Mental Health Utilization Among Spouses of Active Duty Service Members

Since the onset of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan attention has increased on the importance of mental health with military service members. An integral component, although far less studied, are the ties between mental health and military spouses. Military deployments place considerable stress on military families. This study analyzed the mental health utilization of military spouses of active duty service members assigned to an aircraft carrier between 2011 and 2014. A negative binomial generalized estimating equation was used to examine the rate of change in mental health utilization over time against various deployment phases. Associations emerged between select deployment
phases (i.e., deployment 1, between deployments, deployment 2) with increases in mental health utilization ranging between 12% and 20% for military spouses. This study demonstrated, for military spouses, the in between deployment phase has associations with mental health utilization rates similar to actual deployed periods. As a result, military leaders should continue to monitor the well-being of their service members’ families throughout all deployment phases.