Adverse childhood events and the risk for new-onset depression and post-traumatic stress disorder among U.S. national guard soldiers

This article examines the relationship between childhood adversity and postdeployment new-onset psychopathology among a sample of U.S. National Guard personnel deployed during Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom with no history of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or depression. We recruited a sample of 991 Ohio Army National Guard soldiers and conducted structured interviews to assess traumatic event exposure, a history of childhood adversity, and postdeployment depression, and PTSD, consistent with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders—Fourth Edition. We assessed childhood adversity by using questions from the Childhood Adverse Events Survey. In multivariable logistic models, a history of any childhood adversity was significantly associated with new-onset depression, but not PTSD, postdeployment. This finding suggests that a history of childhood adversity is predisposing for new-onset depression, among U.S. National Guard soldiers who were deployed with no prior history of PTSD or depression. This highlights the centrality of childhood experience for the production of mental health among soldiers.