A single study of moderate quality and generalisability reported that 4% to 7% of the surveyed adult children of Vietnam veterans and contemporaneous Defence members had a recorded criminal conviction. A comparable civilian population was not surveyed. The focus on a specific generational cohort of military offspring, and the lack of any supporting studies, means that there is very low certainty that this rate reflects the true prevalence rates in target population. was also some evidence that military dependents have similar or lower rates of hospital admissions for motor vehicle related injuries in which they were the driver than do non-military dependents. The lack of any supporting evidence of even moderate quality and generalisability means that there is a very low certainty that these results can be applied to the target population. No conclusions can be drawn as to whether there is a meaningful difference between the propensity of military and non-military offspring to engage in the measures of risk-taking behaviour investigated here. Further research is required, particularly in the Australian context, to obtain a better understanding of either the rates of risk-taking behaviour in the children of military parents or the relative propensity of military children to engage in behaviour. taking
Table 6). For example, the US studies included participants of ethnicities—such as African American, Hispanic/Latino, American Indian and Native Alaskan—that are uncommon in the Australian target population and that potentially have prevalence rates for specific behaviours. Studies in which these ethnicities are dominant (Gilreath et al., 2013, and Harpaz- Rotem et al., 2006, 2009) or where ethnicity was unreported (Weber, 2005) were less generalisable to the Australian context. Table 6: Ethnicity of US study populations Caucasian (%) African America (%) n Hispanic/ Latino (%) Mixed race (%) AI/AN (%) P (%) Missing/Other (%) Acion et al. (2013)* 77.1 9.9 6.6 n/a 3.5 3.8 n/a Gilreath et al. (2013)** 26.6 6.8 34.5 19.2 12.9 n/a Grasso et al. (2013) 51.8 29.7 2.6 8.7 1.0 5.7 0.5 et al. (2006) 25.1 47.2 9.2 n/a n/a n/a 16.9 et al. (2009) 26.8 62.7 6.3 n/a n/a n/a 4.2 Hutchinson (2006)*** 42.3 16.3 21.2 19.3 n/a n/a 0.8 Pressley et al. (2012)**** 51.9 13.5 7.7 n/a n/a n/a 26.9 Wickman et al. (2010) 60.0 12.0 8.0 n/a 4.0## 16.0 AI = American Indian; AN = Alaskan Native; PI = Pacific Islander * Deployed group ** Military parent group *** Students in grades 9–12 **** Military group * Combined figure for Rotem Harpaz-
of school than those children whose veteran mothers were not homeless or were single, separated or divorced. The study by Harpaz-Rotem et al. (2006) was of low quality and low generalisability. Its specific focus on a population experiencing homelessness reduced its generalisability to the target population. Moreover, the population of children with a veteran parent currently or formerly at risk of homelessness was a clear confounding factor likely to have influenced risk behaviour prevalence as much as the military affiliation. The authors’ follow-up study (Harpaz-Rotem et al., 2009) reported that 87% of veteran mothers’ children ages 5 and older were enrolled in school. Enrolled children missed an average of 1.52 days of school during a 30-day period, with changes in the number of days their mother was homeless being significantly associated with reduced school enrolment (p =.01). Children were estimated to be about 20% less likely to be enrolled in school for every 10 days of the previous 90 that their veteran mothers spent homeless. This later study by Harpaz- Rotem et al. (2009) was of moderate quality but low generalisability. Using a sample of students from four US secondary schools receiving Military Impact Aid, Weber (2005) investigated associations between military-connected youths’ “aberrant behaviours” at school and their families’ frequent geographic relocation. The author found school suspensions were rare (11%) in the study population and were not strongly associated with lifetime geographic relocation frequency. The study by Weber (2005) was of low quality and low generalisability. By contrast, Forrest et al. (2014b) found higher overall rates of suspension/expulsion among Australian adult offspring of servicemen. The authors compared prevalence rates for suspension/expulsion from primary or secondary school between adult children of Vietnam veterans and Vietnam-era personnel. The experience of being suspended or expelled from school was significantly higher among the offspring of Vietnam veterans (43%) than for the offspring of Vietnam-era personnel (33%) (p < .01). The study by Forrest et al. (2014b) was of moderate quality and moderate generalisability. Studies also measured school absenteeism less explicitly, such as by condensing several school-related issues into a single indicator. Prevalence reported using these indicators should be interpreted with caution, as the data may represent constructs other than those risk behaviours of interest to this REA. For example, Forrest