Editing Peacekeeping (section)

===Impacts on individual peacekeepers ===
[[File:UNAMIR Blue Berets memorial Kigali (4).jpg|thumb|Memorial in [[Kigali]], Rwanda, to ten Belgian peacekeepers of [[UNAMIR]] who were massacred by Hutu paramilitaries in 1994]]
Studies of peacekeeping soldiers show both positive and negative effects. A study of 951 US Army soldiers assigned to Bosnia revealed that 77% reported some positive consequences, 63% reported a negative consequence, and 47% reported both.<ref>Newby, John H., et al. "Positive and negative consequences of a military deployment." ''Military Medicine'' (2005) 170#10 pp: 815-819</ref>  The peacekeepers are exposed to danger caused by the warring parties and often in an unfamiliar climate. This gives rise to different mental health problems, suicide, and substance abuse as shown by the percentage of former peacekeepers with those problems. Having a parent in a mission abroad for an extended period is also stressful to the peacekeepers' families.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Fernandes Souza | first1 = Wanderson |display-authors=etal  | year = 2011 | title = Posttraumatic stress disorder in peacekeepers: a meta-analysis | journal = The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease | volume = 199 | issue = 5| pages = 309–312 | doi=10.1097/nmd.0b013e3182175180| pmid = 21543949 | s2cid = 28713512 }}</ref>

Another viewpoint raises the problem that the peacekeeping may soften the troops and erode their combat ability, as the mission profile of a peacekeeping contingent is totally different from the profile of a unit fighting an all-out war.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070926001502/http://www.usafa.af.mil/jscope/ISME2007/Papers/Prof%20Paulin%20Kaurin%20War%20Stories.doc Kaurin, P. M. (2007) War Stories: Narrative, Identity and (Recasting) Military Ethics Pedagogy. Pacific Lutheran University. ISME 2007. Retrieved 9-3-2007]</ref><ref>Liu, H. C. K., The war that could destroy both armies, ''Asia Times'', October 23, 2003. Retrieved March 9, 2007.</ref>