August 13, 2009 - The years-long U.S. commitment in Iraq and Afghanistan is taking a significant toll on the children of service members, who are 2½ times more likely to develop psychological problems than American children in general, new research indicates.

The study, published this week in the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, found that deployment of a parent was correlated to high stress levels in the parent who remains at home, which it said was linked to greater psychological impact on children.

The findings open a new window on the collateral damage wartime deployment can exact back at home.

There is abundant research on the effects of deployment and combat on service members themselves, said the researchers, led by Maj. Eric M. Flake, a physician at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Wash. However, "few studies have looked at how having a parent deployed during wartime affects children," they wrote.

Davita Hoffman, a specialist at Pikes Peak Behavioral Health Group in Colorado Springs, Colo., said the stress was compounded by military staffing shortages that lead to multiple deployments for many service members.

"Don't forget, these families generally move once every three years," Hoffman said.

When Thane Hounchell's father was assigned to Barksdale Air Force Base in Shreveport, La., in January, Thane, 17, had to abandon his friends and classes at his high school in Prattville, Ala.

"Military children give up a lot, and the fathers and moms are gone a lot," said Jana Hounchell, Thane's mother.

Thane acknowledged that the impact on children like him was very real.

MSNBC