Prevalence and Impact of Alcohol Misuse in the American, British and Canadian Armed Forces - Dissertation Example

Study findings and literature reviews attest to the high prevalence of this problem not only among active-duty soldiers but also among veterans returning home. Studies also show several disparities in the prevalence and effects of alcohol abuse among military officers. First, younger officers of age 18-25 are found to suffer more alcohol abuse and related disorders than their older colleagues. Second, male soldiers are more likely to indulge in binge drinking compared to their female colleagues.

Third, soldiers on active combat duty report more cases of alcohol abuse than their non-combat-experienced colleagues do. This latter disparity could be explained by the traumatic experiences and events encountered in wars. For the US, UK, and Canada, veterans of the Iraqi and Afghani wars are outstanding examples of samples used to establish the extent to which traumatic combat and non-combat experiences and events promote alcohol misuse in the armed forces. Although these countries’ defense departments have initiated various interventions and designed policy statements to curb alcohol abuse in military camps and among veterans, a lot still needs to be done since the responses to this problem have been rather lackluster.

Recommendations by concerned agencies and individual researchers have largely been ignored by authorities. The negative effects of alcohol abuse on soldiers, their friends, families, and the profession in clued mental health disorders, violence, marriage breakages, unproductively, cardiovascular diseases, and death. These effects highlight the efficiency and urgency with which alcohol misuse should be addressed.

In the current society, many people are reported to keep their consumption of alcohol within the confines of the recommended levels. These drinkers have rather low risks of alcohol-related mental, physical, physiological, and social problems (Bray & Hourani, 2007). Nevertheless, even this level of alcohol consumption could place drinkers at certain levels of risk that could be detrimental to their psychological and physical health. The other category of drinkers consumes alcohol to an extent that it is now considered alcohol abuse.