Self-reported depressive and anxiety symptoms associated with fitness for military service and social-communicative skills in young Finnish men

Abstract

Purpose:
Studies on the association of self-reported depressive and anxiety symptoms with release from compulsory military service at the military call-up and with social-communicative difficulties are scarce.

Materials and methods:
This study is a part of population-based cross-sectional ‘Young Men in the North’ project (N = 2614 men, mean age 18.1). The Finnish Defence Forces arranges compulsory military call-ups for all Finnish 18-year-old male citizens, where our study subjects and filled out questionnaire including Raitasalo’s modification of the Short Form of Beck Depression Inventory (R-BDI) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale (GAD-7), and three questions on social-communicative difficulties based on the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria. Young men’s fitness for military service (fit, permanent or temporary release) was obtained from the call-up board.

Results:
Self-reported depressive symptoms were associated with permanent (OR = 6.6; 95% CI 3.88–11.20) and temporary (OR = 9.2; 95% CI 5.59–15.04) release from military service. These odds ratios for anxiety symptoms were 3.1 (95% CI 2.11–4.64) and 4.1 (95% CI 2.80–5.94). Depressive (OR = 5.7; 95% CI 3.88–11.20) and anxiety symptoms (OR = 3.2; 95% CI 2.47–4.17) were associated with self-reported social-communicative difficulties.

Conclusions:
Self-reported depressive and anxiety symptoms were associated with release from service as well as with social-communicative difficulties in young men. The early-onset mental health problems in young men seem to manifest at call-up as being unfit for the military service. Screening symptoms of depression and anxiety with self-reported scales defined those with mild, moderate or severe symptoms at risk for release from service.