USA Today has an article today written by Gregg Zoroya entitled Troops' kids feel war toll. The article claims that children of combat troops have more fear, anxiety and behavioral problems. Here are some select quotes:

Six out of 10 U.S. military parents told researchers their children have increased levels of fear and anxiety when a parent is sent to war, according to a survey of more than 13,000 military spouses of active-duty servicemembers. The results, tabulated early this year, were released to USA TODAY.

More than half of those surveyed say generally their children have coped well or very well with a parent who has gone to war. But one in four say the child has coped poorly or very poorly, and a third say the child's grades and behavior in school have suffered.

Comment: The story appears to describe the results of a survey that represents opinions of parents. What about looking at objective measures such as the actual trends in grades or numbers of behavioral incidents? What percentage of the fear, anxiety and behavioral problems reported by the parents reach the threshold of a clinical disorder? The story describes negative impact but does not list any possible positive impacts. The impact of military service and deployments should not be discounted but at the same time can any good come of enduring such a hardship?