Table 2. Demographic characteristics and military experience of post-9/11 veterans with a positive screen for a mental disorder by whether or not they received pastoral or mental health care in the past year.
| Saw a pastoral counselor (n = 93)
|
Did not see a pastoral counselor (n = 368)
|
p-value | Saw a mental health professional (n = 206)
|
Did not see a mental health professional (n =255)
|
p-value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % (n) | % (n) | % (n) | % (n) | |||
| Received pastoral care services | n/a | 25.6 (53) | 15.7 (40) | 0.01 | ||
| Received MH care services | 56.8 (53) | 41.6 (153) | 0.01 | n/a | ||
| Positive mental disorder screen | ||||||
| PTSD | 49.8 (46) | 45.6 (168) | 0.44 | 65.8 (135) | 30.8 (78) | <0.001 |
| MDD | 62.2 (58) | 53.6 (197) | 0.12 | 74.6 (154) | 39.8 (101) | <0.001 |
| Alcohol misuse | 53.2 (49) | 65.2 (240) | 0.02 | 54.1 (111) | 69.8 (178) | <0.001 |
| Demographics | ||||||
| Age < 33 years | 57.9 (54) | 63.0 (232) | 0.33 | 56.8 (117) | 66.2 (169) | 0.03 |
| Male | 85.0 (79) | 84.5 (311) | 0.85 | 80.1 (165) | 88.2 (225) | <0.001 |
| Currently married | 57.3 (53) | 48.1 (177) | 0.10 | 47.7 (98) | 51.8 (132) | 0.36 |
| White | 62.0 (58) | 73.4 (270) | 0.02 | 72.4 (149) | 70.1 (179) | 0.56 |
| Education beyond HS | 80.4 (75) | 77.4 (285) | 0.52 | 81.6 (168) | 75.0 (191) | 0.08 |
| Currently employed | 69.2 (64) | 78.2 (288) | 0.06 | 72.3 (149) | 79.7 (203) | 0.05 |
| Have children | 61.1 (57) | 59.9 (220) | 0.82 | 63.5 (131) | 57.5 (146) | 0.17 |
| Homeless in past year | 9.4 (9) | 8.3 (31) | 0.72 | 11.6 (24) | 5.9 (15) | 0.03 |
| Household income > $50K | 33.2 (31) | 42.6 (157) | 0.08 | 33.0 (68) | 47.0 (120) | <0.001 |
| History of arrest | 26.9 (25) | 28.9 (106) | 0.70 | 31.3 (65) | 26.2 (67) | 0.21 |
| Church attendance at least once a week | 40.2 (37) | 10.5 (39) | < 0.01 | 17.2 (35) | 16.0 (41) | 0.71 |
| Military experience | ||||||
| Multiple deployments | 44.0 (41) | 28.2 (104) | < 0.01 | 32.5 (67) | 30.5 (78) | 0.62 |
| Over yearlong deployment | 38.1 (35) | 30.0 (110) | 0.12 | 36.3 (75) | 27.8 (71) | 0.04 |
| High combat exposure | 61.4 (57) | 59.3 (218) | 0.70 | 68.2 (141) | 52.8 (135) | <0.001 |
| Officer | 11.0 (10) | 10.8 (40) | 0.94 | 10.4 (22) | 11.1 (28) | 0.80 |
| Reserve or National Guard | 38.8 (36) | 40.5 (149) | 0.75 | 38.6 (79) | 41.4 (106) | 0.51 |
Note. Percentages and numbers are calculated using the weighted sample, which adjusts for the oversampling of women in the original survey and reflects the actual gender balance within the military. Also, please note that seeing a pastoral counselor and seeing a mental health professional was not mutually exclusive, in fact 11.5% of veterans with a positive mental health screen saw both.
MH, Mental Health; PTSD, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder; MDD, Major Depressive Disorder; HS, High School.