Spouse abuse recidivism in the U.S. Army by gender and military status.

Recidivism by spouse abusers was investigated using records of offenders in the U.S. Army Central Registry. Recidivism by gender and military status (active-duty or civilian spouse) was compared over a 70-month period. Between fiscal years 1989-1997, 48,330 offenders were identified in initial and recidivist incidents. Recidivism was analyzed by means of a Cox proportional hazard rate model, controlling for age, race, number of dependents, education, and substance abuse. Two different sets of survival curves were obtained: (a) Men were much more likely than women to have a recurrence and (b) within gender, civilians were more likely to have a recurrence than were active-duty military personnel. At 70 months, 30% of the male civilian offenders and 27% of the male active-duty offenders had committed a subsequent spouse abuse incident compared with 20% of the female civilian offenders and 18% of the female active-duty offenders, controlling for other variables.

Deployment and the probability of spousal aggression by U.S. Army soldiers.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationship between length of soldier deployment and self-reports of moderate and severe spousal violence. METHODS: The Conflict Tactics Scale was used to measure self-reports of behaviors exhibited in marital conflict. Surveys were administered to a 15% random sample of 26,835 deployed and nondeployed married active duty U.S. Army men and women in the 50 United States during the period 1990 to 1994. Multinomial logistic regression and ordered probit analysis were used to estimate the probabilities of moderate and severe violence by length of deployment. RESULTS: After controlling for demographic variables, the probability of severe aggression was significantly greater for soldiers who had deployed in the past year compared with soldiers who had not deployed. CONCLUSIONS: Deployment contributes a significant but small increase to the probability of self-reported spousal aggression during a 1-year period. Although deployment is a military operation, similar effects may be observed in certain civilian occupations.

Trends in child maltreatment in the US Army, 1975-1997.

OBJECTIVE: To examine trends by year in reports of victims of child maltreatment in the US Army Central Registry (ACR) during the period 1975-97. We report the rates/1,000 children of Army families of initial substantiated cases from 1988-97 and the number of cases of maltreatment as a percentage of total victims for each year from 1975-97. Army data are compared to published reports from military service child abuse registries. METHODS: Numbers of cases of child maltreatment for each year were obtained from the ACR for major, minor, and total physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect. Population figures for numbers of children were obtained from the Defense Manpower Data Center. RESULTS: The rates/1,000 for neglect have decreased by 24% from 1991-97, although the decrease has not been steady. The rates/1,000 of minor physical abuse declined 28% from 1993-97. The rates/1,000 of major physical abuse were basically unchanged from 1988-96, although the highest rate was recorded in 1997. The rates/1,000 of sexual abuse were also basically unchanged with the exception of increases in 1992-94 after which time the rates/1,000 returned to the pre-1992 levels. The rates/1,000 of emotional abuse cases more than doubled from 1988-97. CONCLUSIONS: While minor physical abuse and neglect have shown decreases over the past decade, major physical abuse has remained virtually unchanged and sexual and emotional abuse have shown fluctuations. All these forms of maltreatment are challenges to the Army Family Advocacy Program.

Reports of spouse abuse in the U.S. Army Central Registry (1989-1997).

OBJECTIVE: To report the distributions and characteristics of spouse abuse victims and offenders in the U.S. Army Central Registry from 1989 to 1997. METHOD: Case and population data were tabulated using SAS procedures. RESULTS: There were 61,827 initial substantiated cases, 5,772 subsequent incidents, and 3,921 reopened cases. Victim rates varied between 8 and 10.5 per 1,000 married persons. About 82% of victims and offenders were between the ages of 18 and 31 years. The racial distribution of married active duty white and black victims and offenders was greatly different from that of the married active duty population. The proportion of female victims increased from initial (67%) to subsequent (71%) to reopened cases (75%). CONCLUSIONS: U.S. military populations provide unique opportunities to study family violence because of the socioeconomic "floor" under service members and their families. Comparisons between military and civil populations on precipitating circumstances, case assessment and definition, and treatment efficacy would be fruitful areas for research.

Prevention and treatment of HIV infections in minorities in the US military: a review of military research.

The prevalence and incidence of HIV-1 infection in the U.S. military has been higher in minorities than in whites. In order to understand the reason for this disproportionate impact of the epidemic, military HIV research efforts were reviewed for race/ethnic-specific differences in a conference held in July 1993. Studies presented were from the areas of epidemiology, natural history, treatment, and prevention. This report summarizes the presentations made at that conference. Few race/ethnic-related differences were identified in this setting of early diagnosis of HIV-1 infection and equal access to a quality health care system. More information of this type will be needed to allow the targeting of interventions for maximal effect in decreasing the risk of HIV infection.

Small group dynamics and drug abuse in an Army setting: a case study.

Drug abuse has been subjected to a myriad of empirical and theoretical explorations which have attempted to explicate its occurrence as a sociobehavioral phenomenon. The study of the organization of drug-related behavioral manifestations requires the investigation of variant psychosocial, situational, environmental, and structural variables. Small groups within the military establishment are relatively numerous and vitally important. A sense of comradeship exists within such groups and troop morale is frequently facilitated by their existence. The purpose of this paper is to present a descriptive case study of the role of the small group as a central organizing locus around which drug abuse in an army setting revolves. The data presented were collected from subpopulations identified in the course of an epidemiological study of drug and alcohol use at a military post. The paper describes the small group observed in terms of its functional relationships and interactive dynamics. The case study data are presented relative to role differentiation within the group, group norms, values, boundaries, identity, sanctions, and controls. These concepts are examined with a view toward assessing the manner in which drug abuse is initiated, maintained, and controlled via small group dynamics.