The Military Teen
EXPERIENCE
A Snapshot of America’s Military
Teenagers and Future Force
2022 YOUNG
ADULT REPORT
INTRODUCTION
While elding our 2022 Military Teen Experience survey, the National
Military Family Association (NMFA) received many responses from
military-connected young adults ages 18-24. While their responses were
not included in the report on the Teen Experience survey results, we
recognize that individuals in this age cohort have also been impacted
by their parents’ military service. This report provides details about the
lives and unique challenges facing the young adult children of service
members, military retirees, and veterans.
METHODS
NMFA and Bloom’s Military Teen Experience survey collected data from
military teens and young adults. For this report, only data from young
adults were described. This report uses data to describe characteristics
of the military young adult population, including parent’s military
characteristics (e.g., parent’s rank), young adult’s demographic
characteristics (e.g., age), and young adult’s current experiences (e.g.,
mental well-being, food insecurity, voting status). For specic information
regarding the methods and measures used in the 2022 Military Teen
Experience survey, please refer to the complete 2022 Military Teen
Experience Report here.
SAMPLE
NMFA and Bloom elded the Military Teen Experience survey for military-
connected teens and young adults between the ages of 13-24 years old
in February of 2022, for a two-week time frame. During this time, NMFA
received over 2,500 (N = 2,667) responses, with 867 respondents being
military-connected young adults between the ages of 18-24.
FINDINGS
DEMOGRAPHICS
Young adult respondents were mostly from actively serving families (40%)
or families of retired service members who were either medically retired
or who had served 20 years or more (27%).
MENTAL WELL-BEING
In 2022, the majority (58%) of young adult respondents indicated a
moderate level of mental well-being. An additional 30% of young adult
respondents reported low mental well-being. Only 10% of military young
adult respondents reported high mental well-being.
This statistic is mirrored in the
military teen respondents, 37%
of whom also shared the same
thoughts. Unsurprisingly, lower
mental well-being was related to
young adults being more likely to
report experiencing thoughts of
harming themselves or others.
When asked if they were able to
get the help they needed, 20% of
young adults said they were able to
obtain care for their mental health
concerns in the past year.
TRICARE policies may present a
barrier to young adult dependents
of service members from receiving
needed mental health care.
Under the Affordable Care Act,
commercial health insurers
are required to automatically
cover young adult dependents
under their parents’ plans up to age
26. However, TRICARE is exempt
from this requirement. Instead,
TRICARE only covers young
dependents up to age 21, or age 23
if enrolled in college.
Military families who want their
young adult children to retain
TRICARE coverage must purchase
a separate premium-based plan,
TRICARE Young Adult. This creates
a nancial burden on young adult
dependents and their parents
because, under law, TRICARE
Young Adult must operate at no
cost to the government, causing
enrollees and their families to bear
the entire cost. From 2020 to 2021,
the monthly premium for TRICARE
Young Adult Prime increased
by more than 20 percent to over
$450 per month (NMFA, 2021).
NMFA has advocated to extend
TRICARE coverage to young adult
dependents up to age 26, in line
with the Affordable Care Act.
The toll that physical and mental health has taken on myself and my
family, as well as the struggle of moving every so often and changing
schools (abandonment issues).
– Retired Air Force (unsure of rank) young adult, age 20, college student
When I was in middle school, I wish I had an adult (like a therapist) to
kind of validate the way I was feeling.
– Active-duty Army (O-6) young adult, age 19, college student
The biggest struggle I have faced as a military teen that I wish others
understood is that we have had to grow up really fast. When my Dad is
deployed, my Mom still has to work and it was hard being 9 and having to
help take care of my little brother. Having a parent deployed also causes
a lot of anxiety, which causes other health issues when not treated
properly. When my dad was deployed, I always had severe nausea
and could not eat and no military provider even thought that anxiety
surrounding my Dad being in Afghanistan would be the issue. I wish
more people understood how hard it is to be a child worrying about their
parent dying as that is all we really see on the news.
– Active-duty Army (O-6) young adult, age 21, college student
In Their Own Words:
FOOD INSECURITY
No military family should struggle to put food on their table, but far
too many do. Food distribution sites operate on or near virtually every
military installation, and the demand has only increased since the
COVID-19 pandemic (Military Family Advisory Network, 2021). To learn
more about military-connected teens’ and young adults’ experience
with food insecurity, we included questions from the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) Food Security Survey in our Military Teen Experience
survey.
A third of the young adult respondents (32%) reported being food secure
(i.e., one or no reported indicators of concerns about food, typical anxiety
over food sufciency or shortage of food in the home).
The 2022 data revealed that 65% of military young adult
respondents reported experiencing food insecurity.
Specically, 23% were experiencing low food security (i.e., reported
indicators of reduced quality, variety, or desirability of food) and 42%
of respondents were experiencing very low food security (i.e., multiple
reported indicators of disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake).
Additionally, 13% of respondents told us they had a job and were working
to contribute to their family’s nances, rather than for extra spending
money or for professional experience. These young adults are working to
help their family out. Moreover, young adults who reported experiencing
greater food insecurity generally reported lower mental well-being.
Previous research has demonstrated a link between food insecurity
and negative outcomes for young adults, including depression, making
this connection unsurprising (Ke & Ford-Jones, 2015; McIntyre et al.,
2013).
WORK AND SCHOOL
We asked young adults about their chosen path after leaving high school
or, if they were still in high school, what their plans were for the future.
The majority (73%) of young adults were enrolled in some type of two- or
four- year college while 9% were enrolled in a graduate program. Some
chose to work full- or part-time rather than pursuing postsecondary
education (7%). Regardless of being in school, 49% of young adults
reported holding jobs. Out of young adults who held a job, 37% did so for
personal spending, 25% did so for work experience, and 12% for a reason
not listed.
26% of military-connected young adults reported
working to help with family nances
My biggest struggle as a military teen was nding the resources to help
me pursue college. Understanding how to handle my nances with
military aid. Also, knowing how to live life beyond the military base
gates—it’s like I’m culture shocked of my own country, America, now that
I attend university.
– Retired Army (E-8) young adult, age 18, college student
It made it very hard to choose a college because I felt like I was
overwhelmed by the choices and where to go. Should I go by family,
should I go far away? Do I even still like that part of the country (because
I was so young when I lived there)? So many questions it was almost too
many choices! I guess that’s a good problem to have?
– Active-duty Army (E-6) young adult, age 19, college student
In Their Own Words:
VOTING
Of the young adult respondents, the overwhelming majority (73%) shared
they are currently registered to vote. Over half (57%) of respondents
that shared they were registered to vote and were old enough to vote in
previous elections reported they had voted in a previous election.
Voting is a fundamental right for all Americans, but for many military
family members, this can be complicated. The process is often foreign
to rst-time voters, including many military family young adults, but
complications of military life make it even less clear. Military family voters
are often unsure where and how to vote, or even register to vote, due to
frequent relocations, overseas assignments, and uncertain futures.
POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
Advocating for TRICARE Young Adult to cover young dependents up to
age 26 like commercial health insurers, instead of only until age 21, or age
23 if enrolled in college
Call on Congress and Department of Defense to increase
reimbursement rates as needed to encourage more mental and behavioral
health providers to accept TRICARE.
Revise the rules around Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
(SNAP) so that Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) is excluded from
eligibility calculations, allowing for military families to more easily
address food insecurity.
83% said they plan to vote in future elections
