Researchers have found that the longer a parent is deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan is linked to the level of anxiety experienced by the parent's child.

It was found by a study that the anxiety persists even after a deployed parent returns home.

It was also found by Dr. Patricia Lester of the University of California, Los Angeles, and colleagues that the level of anxiety that a child of a deployed parent experiences can be predicted by how much psychological distress is shown by both the active-duty parent and the parent at home.

171 families with a mother or father currently deployed or recently returned from serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, were studied by the researchers. The active-duty parent had, on average, been deployed more than twice and had been away for about 16 months.

Lester said in a statement, "Approximately one-third of the at-home parents and almost 40 percent of the recently returned deployed parents showed elevations in anxiety and depression"

He further added, "The at-home parent showed higher levels of anxiety when their spouse was deployed. But the two key markers for anxiety in the child were the distress levels of both parents and the number of months a parent had been deployed during the child's lifetime." (With Inputs from Agencies)