Jijon Felix, Karen; Hinkson, Kent; Brooks, Malisa; Bryan, Craig (Utah Valley University)
Faculty Advisor: Hinkson, Kent (Utah Valley University, Behavioral Science)
Military personnel who are deployed are 1.36 times more likely to develop an alcohol use disorder and 1.14 times more likely to develop a drug use disorder. The most abused substances in the military are alcohol and nicotine, with prescription pain reliever abuse becoming more prevalent. More than half of active duty service members reported binge drinking. Pain reliever use has gradually increased over the years, from 2% in 2002, 4% in 2005 and 11% in 2008 (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2013). In 2016, 22% of active-duty soldiers had a least one opioid prescription (Armytimes.com, 2018). Additionally, substance use disorder has been found to positively correlate with the number of deployments. However, some question whether or not this is due to the actual deployment or the time in service (i.e. as a person serves in the military longer, they deploy more often). This study seeks to investigate if the number of deployments and/or time in service is associated with increased substance use, and if so, does the age of the service member or veteran partially mediate the correlation. Findings show no relationship between number of deployments and current alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, or illicit drug use. Additionally, when examining the number of years they served, there was a correlation with caffeine consumption. However, after accounting for age, there was no significant relationship between number of years served and caffeine consumption. These findings suggest that among this sample age may be counterbalancing early substance use found in other populations, or that there may be something unique about the population (veterans and service members enrolled in postsecondary education) that make them less likely to abuse substances.