thedrifter
01-12-07, 12:50 PM
Survey: Troops smoking less, drinking more
By Gayle S. Putrich - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Jan 12, 2007 13:26:35 EST
Service members may be smoking a little less, but they are drinking a little more, according to data from a recently released 2005 Pentagon health survey.
Preliminary statistics released by the Defense Department from the 2005 Survey of Health-Related Behaviors show cigarette use has declined since the last survey in 2002, down to 32.2 percent from 33.8 in 2002. “Heavy” smoking — a pack or more a day — also went down, from 13.1 percent in 2002 to 11.1 percent in 2005.
Heavy drinking and chewing tobacco, however, have seen upticks since the last survey, a period that coincides with a deepening of the Iraq mission.
In 2002, 18.1 percent of those surveyed reported being heavy drinkers — having five or more drinks in one sitting at least once a week. The 2005 survey puts that number at 18.5 percent.
The number of smokeless tobacco users in 2005 was 14.1 percent, up from 12.2 percent in 2002 and the highest level in at least a decade.
“These survey findings provide very useful information for the department to target programs that continue to enhance the physical and mental well-being of our troops,” said Dr. William Winkenwerder Jr., assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, in a press release. “I am pleased, and even a little surprised, that despite the stresses of war and ongoing deployments, nearly all indicators of service members’ health and well-being continue to be quite good compared with civilian populations.”
More than 16,000 randomly selected service members from all active-duty paygrades took part in the anonymous survey, done by RTI, a nonprofit research firm based in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park.
A 2007 release of a 2005 survey may seem like a long lag, but Laurel Hourani, associate project director at RTI, called it “fairly typical for these very large surveys.”
While many simpler surveys are done by mail, RTI personnel deployed to 60 military installations around the globe to administer the 166-question, 32-page survey, which takes about an hour to complete, she said.
“It’s a fairly long and in-depth process,” Hourani said.
And the information is still useful, she said.
“It’s really a good tool for DoD to use to help monitor the health and health behaviors of active-duty personnel. It can be used to help develop health programs and to monitor the effectiveness of existing health programs,” Hourani said.
Though it is the ninth in the series of surveys, the 2005 survey marked several firsts for the program since it began in 1980 as part of the Defense Lifestyle Assessment Program.
The 2005 survey was the first to include the National Guard and reserve, for example.
It also marks the first time that the number of active-duty service members using illegal drugs could not be determined. According to the Pentagon press release, 27.6 percent of those surveyed admitted to using illegal drugs in 1980, when mandatory random drug testing in the ranks was just taking hold. That figure plummeted to 3.4 percent by 2002.
However, “In 2005, because wording in some drug use questions was modified, estimates cannot be compared to those in prior years,” the press release said.
Hourani said the 2005 survey was more explicit and descriptive than previous versions, using more drug slang and asking questions about a wider variety of illegal drugs.
“We try to stay up with the lingo … but when we tried to update it, we got results we didn’t expect,” Hourani said, and it would not be fair to compare data from previous, less descriptive surveys with the new survey results.
This is also the first survey in the series to consider mental health and family stress associated with deployment to Iraq, Afghanistan and other theaters.
“Overall, most military personnel are using positive coping mechanisms in dealing with the stresses of their current wartime environment,” Winkenwerder said.
Those deployed between 2002 and 2005 had higher rates of work and family stress when compared with those who did not deploy, as well as higher rates of heavy alcohol, cigarette and illegal drug use, the survey found. More of those who had deployed also met the criteria for depression, anxiety and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Ellie
By Gayle S. Putrich - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Jan 12, 2007 13:26:35 EST
Service members may be smoking a little less, but they are drinking a little more, according to data from a recently released 2005 Pentagon health survey.
Preliminary statistics released by the Defense Department from the 2005 Survey of Health-Related Behaviors show cigarette use has declined since the last survey in 2002, down to 32.2 percent from 33.8 in 2002. “Heavy” smoking — a pack or more a day — also went down, from 13.1 percent in 2002 to 11.1 percent in 2005.
Heavy drinking and chewing tobacco, however, have seen upticks since the last survey, a period that coincides with a deepening of the Iraq mission.
In 2002, 18.1 percent of those surveyed reported being heavy drinkers — having five or more drinks in one sitting at least once a week. The 2005 survey puts that number at 18.5 percent.
The number of smokeless tobacco users in 2005 was 14.1 percent, up from 12.2 percent in 2002 and the highest level in at least a decade.
“These survey findings provide very useful information for the department to target programs that continue to enhance the physical and mental well-being of our troops,” said Dr. William Winkenwerder Jr., assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, in a press release. “I am pleased, and even a little surprised, that despite the stresses of war and ongoing deployments, nearly all indicators of service members’ health and well-being continue to be quite good compared with civilian populations.”
More than 16,000 randomly selected service members from all active-duty paygrades took part in the anonymous survey, done by RTI, a nonprofit research firm based in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park.
A 2007 release of a 2005 survey may seem like a long lag, but Laurel Hourani, associate project director at RTI, called it “fairly typical for these very large surveys.”
While many simpler surveys are done by mail, RTI personnel deployed to 60 military installations around the globe to administer the 166-question, 32-page survey, which takes about an hour to complete, she said.
“It’s a fairly long and in-depth process,” Hourani said.
And the information is still useful, she said.
“It’s really a good tool for DoD to use to help monitor the health and health behaviors of active-duty personnel. It can be used to help develop health programs and to monitor the effectiveness of existing health programs,” Hourani said.
Though it is the ninth in the series of surveys, the 2005 survey marked several firsts for the program since it began in 1980 as part of the Defense Lifestyle Assessment Program.
The 2005 survey was the first to include the National Guard and reserve, for example.
It also marks the first time that the number of active-duty service members using illegal drugs could not be determined. According to the Pentagon press release, 27.6 percent of those surveyed admitted to using illegal drugs in 1980, when mandatory random drug testing in the ranks was just taking hold. That figure plummeted to 3.4 percent by 2002.
However, “In 2005, because wording in some drug use questions was modified, estimates cannot be compared to those in prior years,” the press release said.
Hourani said the 2005 survey was more explicit and descriptive than previous versions, using more drug slang and asking questions about a wider variety of illegal drugs.
“We try to stay up with the lingo … but when we tried to update it, we got results we didn’t expect,” Hourani said, and it would not be fair to compare data from previous, less descriptive surveys with the new survey results.
This is also the first survey in the series to consider mental health and family stress associated with deployment to Iraq, Afghanistan and other theaters.
“Overall, most military personnel are using positive coping mechanisms in dealing with the stresses of their current wartime environment,” Winkenwerder said.
Those deployed between 2002 and 2005 had higher rates of work and family stress when compared with those who did not deploy, as well as higher rates of heavy alcohol, cigarette and illegal drug use, the survey found. More of those who had deployed also met the criteria for depression, anxiety and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Ellie