Editing Children in the military (section)

== Impact on children ==

{{Further|Impact of war on children}}{{See also|Recruit training}}

=== Armed conflict ===
Child soldiers who survive armed conflict face a markedly elevated risk of debilitating psychiatric illness, poor literacy and numeracy, and behavioural problems.<ref name="Boothby, N-2010">{{Cite web|url=https://www.scribd.com/document/328940882/Child-Soldiering-Impact-on-Childhood-Development-and-Learning-Capacity|title=Child soldiering: Impact on childhood development and learning capacity|last=Boothby, N|display-authors=et al|year=2010|access-date=30 January 2018}}</ref> Research in Palestine and Uganda, for example, has found that more than half of former child soldiers showed symptoms of [[Posttraumatic stress disorder|post-traumatic stress disorder]] and nearly nine in ten in Uganda screened positive for [[Depression (mood)|depressed mood]].<ref name="Boothby, N-2010" /> Researchers in Palestine also found that children exposed to high levels of violence in armed conflict were substantially more likely than other children to exhibit [[aggression]] and [[anti-social behaviour]].<ref name="Boothby, N-2010" /> The combined impact of these effects typically includes a high risk of poverty and lasting unemployment in adulthood.<ref name="Boothby, N-2010" />

=== Detention ===
Further harm is caused when armed forces and groups detain child recruits.<ref name="HRW-2016">{{Cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/07/28/children-detained-war-zones|title=Children Detained in War Zones|publisher=Human Rights Watch|date=28 July 2016|access-date=21 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160821224149/https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/07/28/children-detained-war-zones|archive-date=21 August 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Children are often detained without sufficient food, medical care, or under other inhumane conditions, and some experience physical and sexual torture.<ref name="HRW-2016" /> Some are captured with their families, or detained due to one of their family members' activity. Lawyers and relatives are frequently banned from any court hearing.<ref name="HRW-2016" />

=== Military training ===
[[File:Elementary school students were given military drills (Nakameguro National School in Tokyo), 1942.jpg|thumb|Elementary school students in [[Empire of Japan|Imperial Japan]] were given military drills, May 1942]]
While the use of children in armed conflict has attracted most attention, other research has found that military settings present several serious risks before child recruits are deployed to war zones, particularly during training.

Research from several countries finds that military enlistment, even before recruits are sent to war, is accompanied by a higher risk of attempted suicide in the US,<ref name="Ursano-2016" /> higher risk of mental disorders in the US and the UK,<ref name="Goodwin-2015" /><ref name="Martin-2006" /><ref name="Cooper-2021">{{Cite web |title=Has the Time Come for an All-Adult Army? |url=https://rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/has-time-come-all-adult-army/ |access-date=2022-08-19 |website=rusi.org |language=en}}</ref> higher risk of alcohol misuse<ref name="Head-2016" /><ref name="Mattiko-2011" /><ref name="Cooper-2021" /> and higher risk of violent behaviour,<ref name="MacManus-2013" /><ref name="Bouffard-2005" /><ref name="Merrill-2005" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Elbogen |first1=Eric B. |last2=Johnson |first2=Sally C. |last3=Wagner |first3=H. Ryan |last4=Sullivan |first4=Connor |last5=Taft |first5=Casey T. |last6=Beckham |first6=Jean C. |date=2014 |title=Violent behaviour and post-traumatic stress disorder in US Iraq and Afghanistan veterans |journal=British Journal of Psychiatry |language=en |volume=204 |issue=5 |pages=368–375 |doi=10.1192/bjp.bp.113.134627 |pmid=24578444 |pmc=4006087 |issn=0007-1250}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=MacManus |first1=Deirdre |last2=Short |first2=Roxanna |last3=Lane |first3=Rebecca |last4=Jones |first4=Margaret |last5=Hull |first5=Lisa |last6=Howard |first6=Louise M. |last7=Fear |first7=Nicola T. |date=2022-09-01 |title=Intimate partner violence and abuse experience and perpetration in UK military personnel compared to a general population cohort: A cross-sectional study |journal=The Lancet Regional Health - Europe |language=en |volume=20 |pages=100448 |doi=10.1016/j.lanepe.2022.100448 |issn=2666-7762 |pmc=9256655 |pmid=35813966}}</ref> relative to recruits' pre-military experience.

Military academics in the US have characterized military training as "intense indoctrination" in conditions of sustained stress, the primary purpose of which is to establish the unconditional and immediate obedience of recruits.<ref name="McGurk-2006" /> The research literature has found that adolescents are more vulnerable than adults to a high-stress environment, particularly those from a background of childhood adversity.<ref name="Medact-2018">{{Cite web|url=http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/defence-committee/armed-forces-and-veterans-mental-health/written/79963.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191115135652/http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/defence-committee/armed-forces-and-veterans-mental-health/written/79963.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=15 November 2019|title=House of Commons Defence Committee Inquiry into Armed Forces and Veterans Mental Health: Written Evidence Submitted by Medact|last=Medact|year=2018|access-date=24 March 2018}}</ref> It finds in particular that the prolonged stressors of military training are likely to aggravate pre-existing mental health problems and hamper healthy neurological development.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Campbell |first=Katharine Ann |date=2022-06-01 |title=Childhood trauma: a major risk factor in the military recruitment of young people |url=https://militaryhealth.bmj.com/lookup/doi/10.1136/bmjmilitary-2022-002149 |journal=BMJ Military Health |volume=170 |issue=2 |language=en |pages=95–96 |doi=10.1136/bmjmilitary-2022-002149 |pmid=35649690 |s2cid=249277481 |issn=2633-3767}}</ref><ref name="Louise-2016" />

Military settings are characterized by elevated rates of [[bullying]], particularly by instructors. In the UK between 2014 and 2020, for example, the army recorded 62 formal complaints of violence committed by staff against recruits at the military training centre for 16- and 17-year-old trainee soldiers, the [[Army Foundation College]].<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |last=British Army |date=13 December 2021 |title=Freedom of Information request, ref. Army/PolSec/C/U/FOI2021/13445 |url=https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/804174/response/1936986/attach/3/20211213%20FOI2021%2013445.pdf |access-date=17 August 2022 |website=whatdotheyknow.com}}</ref> Joe Turton, who joined up aged 17 in 2014, recalls bullying by staff throughout his training. For example:

{{blockquote|The corporals come into the hangar where we sleep and they're wild-eyed, screaming, shoving people out. A massive sergeant lifts a recruit in the air and literally throws him into the wall. A corporal smacks me full-force around the head—I've got my helmet on but he hits me so hard that I'm knocked right over, I mean this man's about 40 and I'm maybe 17 by then. A bit later, we're crawling through mud and a corporal grabs me and drags me along the ground, half-way across a field. When he lets go I'm in that much pain that I'm whimpering on the ground. When the other corporal, the one who hit me, sees me crying on the ground, he just points at me and laughs.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Abuse and sexual assault of children in British armed forces training exposed |url=https://home.crin.org/readlistenwatch/stories/teenage-army-recruits |access-date=2022-08-18 |website=CRIN |date=21 July 2022 |language=en-US}}</ref>}}Elevated rates of [[Sexual harassment in the military|sexual harassment]] are characteristic of military settings, including the training environment.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-603-x/85-603-x2016001-eng.htm|title=Sexual Misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces, 2016|last=Canada, Statcan [official statistics agency]|year=2016|website=statcan.gc.ca|language=en|access-date=11 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180330011913/http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-603-x/85-603-x2016001-eng.htm|archive-date=30 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Marshall|first1=A|last2=Panuzio|first2=J|last3=Taft|first3=C|year=2005|title=Intimate partner violence among military veterans and active duty servicemen|journal=Clinical Psychology Review|language=en|volume=25|issue=7|pages=862–876|doi=10.1016/j.cpr.2005.05.009|pmid=16006025}}</ref><ref name="Anderson-2013">{{Cite book |last1=Anderson |first1=E H |title=Military psychologists' desk reference |last2=Suris |first2=A |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-19-992826-2 |editor-last=Moore |editor-first=Brett A |location=Oxford |pages=264–269 |chapter=Military sexual trauma |oclc=828143812 |editor-last2=Barnett |editor-first2=Jeffrey E}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=British army |date=2021 |title=Sexual harassment 2021 report |url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1064759/Army_Sexual_Harassment_Report_2021.pdf |access-date=16 August 2022 |website=gov.uk}}</ref> Between 2015 and 2020, for example, girls aged 16 or 17 in the British armed forces were twice as likely as their same-age civilian peers to report rape or other sexual assault.<ref name="Whyte-2021">{{Cite news |last=Whyte |first=Lara |title=Tenfold rise in rapes and sexual assaults on girls in military |language=en |newspaper=[[The Times]] |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/tenfold-rise-in-rapes-and-sexual-assaults-on-girls-in-military-pkvck6nbg |access-date=2021-11-04 |issn=0140-0460}}</ref>