Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2007 Jan;172(1):40-3.
doi: 10.7205/milmed.172.1.40.

Perceived stress, heart rate, and blood pressure among adolescents with family members deployed in Operation Iraqi Freedom

Vernon A Barnes  1 , Harry Davis, Frank A Treiber
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Perceived stress, heart rate, and blood pressure among adolescents with family members deployed in Operation Iraqi Freedom

Vernon A Barnes et al. Mil Med. 2007 Jan.

Abstract

This study compared the impact of the 2003 Operation Iraqi Freedom on heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) and self-reported stress levels among three groups of self-categorized adolescents: (1) military dependents with family members deployed; (2) military dependents with no family members deployed; (3) civilian dependents. At the onset and end of the "major hostilities" of Operation Iraqi Freedom, 121 adolescents (mean age = 15.8 +/- 1.1 years) completed questionnaires evaluating the psychological impact of the war and were evaluated for HR and BP. The military deployed dependents exhibited significantly higher HR than other groups at both evaluations (both p < 0.04). Ethnicity by group interactions indicated that European American-deployed dependents had higher stress scores at both time points (p < 0.02). Military dependent European Americans exhibited higher systolic BP compared to the other groups on the second evaluation (p < 0.03).

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Peebles-Kleiger MJ, Kleiger JH. Re-integration stress for Desert Storm families: wartime deployments and family trauma. J Trauma Stress. 1994;7:173–94. - PubMed
    1. Rosen LN, Teitelbaum JM, Westhuis DJ. Children’s reactions to the Desert Storm deployment: initial findings from a survey of Army families. Milit Med. 1993;58:465–9. - PubMed
    1. Jensen PS, Martin D, Watanabe H. Children’s response to parental separation during Operation Desert Storm. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 1996;35:433–41. - PubMed
    1. National Center for Health Statistics: NHANES III anthropometric procedures (video) Washington, DC: U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services, U.S. Government Printing Office; 1988.
    1. Wattigney WA, Webber LS, Lawrence MD, Berenson GS. Utility of an automatic instrument for blood pressure measurement in children: the Bogalusa Heart Study. Am J Hypertens. 1996;9:256–62. - PubMed

Publication types