Sexual Orientation and U.S. Military Personnel Policy: An Update of RAND’s 1993 Study
The RAND Corporation
Summary:
This update on a study from 1993 “provides information and analysis required to structure the issues relevant to ending discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in determining who may serve in the U.S. armed forces and to do so in a manner that is practical, realistic, and consistent with the high standards of combat effectiveness and unit cohesion that U.S. forces must maintain.” There is a section specifically dealing with unit cohesion and the difference between task and social cohesion.
The Mental Health Of US Military Women In Combat Support Occupations
K. E. Lindstrom, T. C. Smith, T. S. Wells, L. Z. Wang, B. Smith, R. J. Reed, W. E. Goldfinger, Naval Health Research Center
Summary:
This report focuses on how women are affected by combat stress prior to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in order to create preventative programs. This study found that women working in combat support occupations were less likely to be hospitalized for a mental illness compared with women working in non-combat support occupations. The one mental disorder that did increase among women in combat support compared to women at large in the military was mood disorders; however it was not to a statistically significant degree.
LeardMann, et al. for the Millennium Cohort Study Team
Summary:
This study was published 17 May 2013. Using longitudinal data from Millennium Cohort participants, the associations of recent deployment as well as other individual and environmental factors with sexual harassment and sexual assault were assessed among U.S. female military personnel.