Noteboom The Law Firm

Study Suggests Affairs More Common Among Service Members

At one time infidelity among soldiers seemed as cliché as "Dear John" letters. According to a new study, however, of those soldiers who have been married, about 1/3 of them have had affairs. This is double the rate among the general population. Although the answer seems fairly obvious, researchers conducting the study could not attribute that rate of infidelity to serving in the military.

Conversely, the study's findings do lead to some fairly obvious conclusion. According to researchers, soldiers, veterans, and their spouses may very well require some sort of specialized or specific care and counseling to prevent such situations such as divorce.

Interventions and other such programs may be the proper course of action needed to handle this growing problem. Researchers indicated these actions may serve to help those military families who find they are facing these types of situations. This study not only "validates the concerns of some spouses left behind," it also shed insight into a very large problem faced by both veterans and their families.

The study itself was one of the largest of its kind, but because of the specific topic being studied, researchers were forced to use national survey results from 1992. Despite the information being 20 years old, that survey is one of only a few of its kind including questions about respondents' military service, extramarital sex history, and their divorce and marriage history all in the same place.

The participants in the survey ranged from 18 to 59 years old. Of the 3,121 participants, 2,308 had been married at some point. Researchers honed in on both active-duty soldiers and veterans who served during war or peacetime and who were still, or had been, married. Just about 1/3 admitted to having extra-marital sexual affairs.

Outside of researchers ability to control, however, was the ability to determine if being in the military caused the affairs. For example, a person who was already likely to have an affair could have joined the military and had an affair. If there is an absolute connection between the military and having an affair, more research will be needed to find it.

If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, a South Florida disability attorney from LaVan & Neidenberg is ready to help. To learn if you are entitled to certain programs and benefits contact our veterans disability rights firm today - 1-888-234-5758.