Female and LGBT-identifying veterans report the bulk of mental health issues to government agencies, a study by the RAND Corporation think tank reveals.
The study revealed that young, LGBT-identifying and female veterans report much more psychological distress, Military.com reported. Those who served in the U.S. military after 9/11 also fell into that group. RAND researcher and report co-author Megan Schuler told the outlet that the study relied on data sets published by the Department of Health and Human Services as well as the U.S. Census Bureau.
The study found that “6.9 percent of veterans met criteria for past-year serious psychological distress, which was significantly higher among female, gay/lesbian, bisexual, and post-9/11 veterans.”
On the other hand, the study also revealed that female vets sought out help more than twice as frequently as male vets did, with the figures sitting as 31.3% and 12.3% respectively. A separate 2022 study by Temple University researchers found that female vets are at a much greater suicide risk than their male counterparts.
What does the data say about U.S. military veterans’ demographics, mental health outcomes, and labor market outcomes?
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Nearly 7% of all veterans fell under the umbrella of having psychological distress. (RELATED: BYRNES: Veterans Need More Healthcare Options, Not Lies About The VA Budget)
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— Veterans Affairs (@DeptVetAffairs) October 24, 2023
“The demographics of the active-duty force and veterans has been changing,” Schuler stated, according to Military.com. (RELATED: Biden Budget Funds Transgender Treatments For Veterans)
“It’s become more racially diverse, and there’s been increasing numbers of women and growing appreciation of LGBT folks serving. And these subpopulations, just like in the general U.S. population, have different health and socioeconomic needs.”
“There’s really been a lot of generational shifts in our understanding and acceptance and openness around mental health in this country, ” Schuler added.