Student dances off stress of being a military child

By Debbie Vu

Many students who move far from their families for college face an extra challenge in adjusting to college life. But for some UNC students who have a parent serving overseas in the armed force, even a trip home can’t close that distance. The stress of having a parent deployed can wear on students, especially when that parent seems like a different person when they return from the fight.

According to a recent study by the Pentagon, children of deployed soldiers are 11 percent more likely to go to the doctors for mental or behavioral health issues. And some of those problems don’t go away when they start college.