RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., Aug. 1 (UPI) -- Children of U.S. enlisted soldiers experience greater rates of neglect and maltreatment during periods of combat-related deployments.

Parental stress is believed to play an important role in child maltreatment, which includes neglect, physical abuse, emotional abuse and sexual abuse, according to study leader Deborah A. Gibbs of RTI International in Research Triangle Park, N.C.

Gibbs examined the impact of combat-related deployment between September 2001 and December 2004 on 1,771 families of enlisted soldiers in the Army who had one or more substantiated reports of child maltreatment.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found a total of 1,858 parents mistreated their children, and that the rate during soldier deployments was 42 percent higher than when they are home.

The occurrence of moderate or severe maltreatment was about 60 percent higher during deployment vs. non-deployment; the rate of child neglect was almost twice as high when soldiers were deployed compared to when the soldiers were not deployed.