title: The effect of military deployment on mental health.
abstract: Public concern about soldiers' mental health has increased over the last decade. Yet the large literature on the mental health problems of returning soldiers relies primarily on self-reported measures that may suffer from non-response bias, usually refers to older conflicts, and focuses mainly on specific diagnoses such as PTSD. Another challenge is that the differences between soldiers and non-soldiers are not necessarily causal, instead possibly reflecting an underlying propensity towards active military service. Using the objective measures of hospitalizations and the purchase of mental health medication, this paper is the first to investigate the effect of recent military deployments on a broader measure of mental health, for a full population of Danish soldiers and a comparison group of eligible men. We exploit a panel of Danish health administrative records and use propensity score matching process, using unique observables such as ability tests. Matching is helpful in both reducing the selection bias from observables and determining pre- and post-deployment period for the comparison group. Then, we estimate the effect of deployment in a difference-in-differences setting, controlling for time trends and other omitted variables affecting both groups. Overall, we find a significant and long-lasting adverse effect of military deployment on soldiers' mental health, regardless of the comparison groups and underlying assumptions.
authors.affiliation: The Danish National Centre for Social Research (SFI), Herluf Trolles Gade 11, DK-1052 Copenhagen K, Denmark. Electronic address: svj@sfi.dk.
authors.forename: Stéphanie Vincent
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Lyk-Jensen
authors.affiliation: Kraks Fond Institute for Urban Economic Research, Frederiksholms Kanal 30, DK-1220 Copenhagen K, Denmark(1); The Danish National Centre for Social Research (SFI), Herluf Trolles Gade 11, DK-1052 Copenhagen K, Denmark(2). Electronic address: cdw@kraksfond.dk.
authors.forename: Cecilie Dohlmann
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Weatherall
authors.affiliation: Psykiatrisk Center København (Rigshospitalet), Distriktspsykiatrisk Center Indre By-Østerbro, Strandboulevarden 96, DK-2100 Kbh. Ø, Denmark. Electronic address: peter.winning.iepsen@regionh.dk.
authors.forename: Peter Winning
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Jepsen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D005191:Family Characteristics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy; D008603:Mental Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D057216:Propensity Score; D057566:Self Report
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents
keywords: Administrative records; Deployment; Mental health; Soldiers