Table 2.
Sociodemographic and health characteristics of participants and non-participants in UK military personnel from phase 1 data.* Values are numbers (percentages) unless stated otherwise
| All participants (n=342)
|
All non-participants (n=265)
|
χ2 test for heterogeneity (df), P value
|
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Sex: | |||
| Male | 319 (93) | 238 (90) | 2.4 (1), 0.124 |
| Female | 23 (7) | 27 (10) | |
| Age (years): | |||
| 20-39 | 259 (76) | 195 (74) | 0.4 (1), 0.546 |
| ⩾40 | 83 (24) | 70 (26) | |
| Marital status: | |||
| Married or cohabiting | 247 (73) | 194 (74) | 1.3 (2), 0.529 |
| Divorced or separated | 55 (16) | 45 (17) | |
| Never married | 38 (11) | 22 (8) | |
| Qualifications: | |||
| No qualifications | 72 (23) | 68 (27) | 4.3 (2), 0.12 |
| High school or college | 229 (72) | 179 (71) | |
| University | 19 (6) | 7 (3) | |
| Employment status: | |||
| Employed | 295 (88) | 224 (87) | 0.2 (1), 0.651 |
| Not employed | 40 (12) | 34 (13) | |
| Service status: | |||
| In service | 138 (42) | 152 (49) | 3.5 (1), 0.061 |
| Left service | 204 (58) | 113 (52) | |
| Psychological distress†: | |||
| Present | 134 (41) | 126 (50) | 5.0 (1), 0.026 |
| Not present | 195 (59) | 126 (50) | |
| Study group‡: | |||
| Disabled Gulf veterans | 111 (67) | 55 (33) | 28.0 (3), <0.0005 |
| Non-disabled Gulf veterans | 98 (52) | 59 (38) | |
| Disabled Bosnia veterans | 54 (55) | 44 (45) | |
| Disabled Era veterans | 79 (43) | 107 (58) |
*
Some categories do not add up to denominators because of missing data from phase 1.
†
Measured by 12 general health questionnaires (score >3 when psychological distress present).
‡
In each group denominator is participant plus non-participant.