BELLINGHAM, Wash. -- A Western Washington University sociology professor is studying the impact of military service on health.
"We're looking at people who served in the '80s and '90s," WWU professor Jay Teachman said. "Now these sort of form a baseline for the people serving in Iraq and Afghanistan for a better idea of what military service does."
Teachman has been awarded a $75,000 grant from the National Science Foundation American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
He and another scientist are analyzing data collected from military volunteers.
Preliminary results have offered some surprising information.
"What we're finding is that, contrary to what you might expect, active duty veterans by the time they reach 40 are not healthier than civilians," said Teachman.
He said veterans have better mental health, but not physical health.
"We find that active duty veterans are more likely to smoke and they're more likely to drink heavily," Teachman said. "So we suspect that is part of the issue."
Teachman said the results of the study will be used in evaluating veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan.
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