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Airmen in the Sample Experience Challenges in Several Domains

• A high proportion of airmen surveyed screened positive for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depressive disorder (MDD), with 67 percent screening positive for both.
• They self-report lower rates of perceived physical health than the U.S. general population does.
• About half reported at least one instance in which they wanted but did not obtain mental health treatment.
• More than one-half of respondents identified their primary supporter as being a spouse or domestic partner, although about 20 percent said that no one played this role for them.
• About 10 percent of those surveyed fall below the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' poverty guidelines.
• Close to 15 percent of the sample would be considered unemployed based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics' U3 (official) measure of unemployment.
• About 10 percent of the new cohort indicated that their first experience with housing instability occurred after they returned from most-recent deployment. About 8 percent of the longitudinal subset reported having experienced housing instability since the previous survey.
• However, some domains showed evidence of improvement. Between waves 1 and 2, airmen's perceptions of their physical impairments improved, the proportion of airmen who reported the presence of a primary supporter increased, and the proportion of airmen who were unemployed and looking for work decreased. Moreover, high numbers of respondents eligible for and in receipt of services from the varying programs available to support them reported overall very high levels of satisfaction with these programs.