Study Methodology

SOAR is embedded within the larger Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), the first U.S. population-based prospective study to investigate long-term health effects of military service among active duty service members. Nearly 40,000 Millennium Cohort participants with adolescent children were invited to complete a web-based self-report survey that included items across interpersonal, socioenvironmental, and health domains, among others. Military parents provided referral information for their adolescent child and another primary parental figure, when available, to be invited to SOAR. This approach allowed survey data to be linked between these three family members (service member, spouse, and adolescent) to promote a comprehensive, family systems-based understanding of military-connected adolescent experiences and determinants of health, risk, and resilience. Adolescent participants are asked to complete follow-up surveys every 2 years in order to capture changes throughout adolescence and into emergent adulthood (approximately 4-7 follow-up surveys