title: Determinants of dental insurance status for U.S. military families.
abstract: This study explores what factors influence whether active duty U.S. military personnel enroll their families in Department of Defense (DoD) or non-DoD dental insurance plans. The data come from a 26-site, cross-sectional survey of U.S. service members conducted from April 1994 to January 1995. A prestratified, randomly selected target sample of 15,915 service members yielded 12,950 respondents (81% response rate); 7,243 of these had insurance-eligible families. Age, gender, ethnicity, education, rank, marital status, branch of service, number of children, number of years of military service, and insurance status of respondents were collected on self-administered questionnaires. We performed stepwise, backward, logistic regression analysis to determine which factors influence a military family's dental insurance status. Results show that enrollment in DoD insurance is influenced by every demographic factor collected; enrollment in non-DoD insurance is influenced by fewer factors. The decision by U.S. service members to enroll their families in dental insurance plans is subject to many and complex influences.
authors.affiliation: U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21010, USA.
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Chisick
authors.forename: F R
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Poindexter
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003657:Decision Making; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007347:Insurance, Dental / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008885:Military Dentistry; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States