In this longitudinal study of American veterans, the authors investigated the mortality risks of five World War II military experiences (e.g., combat exposure) and their variation among veterans in the postwar years. The male subjects (n = 854) were members of the Stanford-Terman study, and 38% served in World War II. Cox models (proportional-hazards regressions) were used to compare the relative mortality risk associated with each military experience. Overseas duty, service in the Pacific theater, and exposure to combat significantly increased the mortality risks of veterans in the study. Individual differences in education, mental health in 1950, and age at entry into the military, as well as personality factors, made no difference in these results. In conclusion, a gradient was observed such that active duty on the home front, followed by overseas duty, service in the Pacific, and combat exposure, markedly increased the risk for relatively early mortality. Potential linking mechanisms include heavy drinking.
Adams, Dolph O.1994. "Molecular Biology of Macrophage Activation: A Pathway Whereby Psychosocial Factors Can Potentially Affect Health."Psychosomatic Medicine56 (4): 316-27.
2.
Appels, A. and P. Mulder.1988. "Excess Fatigue as a Precursor of Myocardial Infarction." European Heart Journal9:758-64.
3.
Bedard, Kelly and Olivier Deschênes .2006. "The Long-Term Impact of Military Service on Health: Evidence From World War II and Korean War Veterans ." American Economic Review96 (1): 176-94.
4.
Boscarino, Joseph A.2006. "Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Mortality Among U.S. Army Veterans 30 Years After Military Service."Annals of Epidemiology16 (4): 248-56.
5.
Clipp, Elizabeth Colerick and Glen H. Elder , Jr.1996. "The Aging Veteran of World War II: Psychiatric and Life Course Insights." Pp. 19-51 in Aging and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, edited by Paul E. Ruskin and John A. Talbott.Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press.
6.
Clipp, Elizabeth Colerick, Eliza K. Pavalko, and Glen H. Elder , Jr.1992. "Trajectories of Health: In Concept and Empirical Pattern."Behavior, Health, and Aging2 (3): 159-79.
7.
Dower, John W.1987. War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War. New York: Pantheon.
8.
Eizenman, Dara R., John R. Nesselroade, David L. Featherman, and John W. Rowe .1997. "Intraindividual Variability in Perceived Control in an Older Sample: The MacArthur Successful Aging Studies."Psychology of Aging12 (3): 489-502.
9.
Elder, Glen H., Jr. , and Christopher Chan.1999. "War's Legacy in Men's Lives." Pp. 209-227 in A Nation Divided: Diversity, Inequality, and Community in American Society, edited by Phyllis Moen, Donna Dempster-McClain, and Henry A. Walker.Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
10.
Elder, Glen H., Jr., and Elizabeth Colerick Clipp.1989. "Combat Experience and Emotional Health: Impairment and Resilience in Later Life. Journal of Personality57 (2): 311-41.
11.
Elder, Glen H., Jr., and Jeffrey K. Liker.1982. "Hard Times in Women's Lives: Historical Influences Across 40 Years."American Journal of Sociology88 (2): 241-69.
12.
Elder, Glen H., Jr. , Michael J. Shanahan, and Elizabeth Colerick Clipp.1994. "When War Comes to Men's Lives: Life-course Patterns in Family, Work, and Health."Psychology and Aging9 (1): 5-16.
13.
---. 1997. "Linking Combat and Physical Health: The Legacy of World War II in Men's Lives." American Journal of Psychiatry154 (3): 330-36.
14.
Elder, Glen H., Jr., and Monica Kirkpatrick Johnson.2003. "The Life Course and Aging: Challenges, Lessons, and New Directions." Pp. 49-81 in Invitation to the Life Course: Toward New Understandings of Later Life, Part II, edited Richard A. Settersten, Jr.Amityville, New York: Baywood.
15.
Fontana, Alan, and Robert Rosenheck .1993. "A Causal Model of the Etiology of War-Related PTSD." Journal of Traumatic Stress6 (4): 475-500.
16.
Friedman, Howard S., and Leslie R. Martin .2007. "A Life-Span Approach to Personality and Longevity: The Case of Conscientiousness." Pp. 167-85 in Handbook of Health Psychology and Aging, edited by Carolyn Aldwin, Crystal Park, and Avron Spiro, III.New York: Guilford.
17.
Friedman, Howard S., Joan S. Tucker, Joseph E. Schwartz, Leslie R. Martin, Carol Tomlinson-Keasey, Deborah L. Wingard, and Michael H. Criqui .1995. "Childhood Conscientiousness and Longevity: Health Behaviors and Cause of Death."Journal of Personality and Social Psychology68 (4): 696-703.
18.
Friedman, Howard S., Joan S. Tucker, Joseph E. Schwartz, Carol Tomlinson-Keasey, Leslie R. Martin, Deborah L. Wingard, and Michael H. Criqui .1995. "Psychosocial and Behavioral Predictors of Longevity: The Aging and Death of the `Termites.'"American Psychologist50 (2): 69-78.
19.
Friedman, Howard S., Joan S. Tucker, Carol Tomlinson-Keasey, Joseph E. Schwartz, Deborah L. Wingard, and Michael H. Criqui .1993. "Does Childhood Personality Predict Longevity?"Journal of Personality and Social Psychology65 (1): 176-85.
20.
Gimbel, Cynthia, and Alan Booth.1996. "Who Fought in Vietnam?" Social Forces74 (4): 1137-57.
21.
Holahan, Carole K. and Robert R. Sears .1995. The Gifted Group in Later Maturity. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
22.
Johnson, Anna M., Kathryn M. Rose, Glen H. Elder, Jr., Lloyd E. Chambless, Jay S. Kaufman, and Gerardo Heiss. Under review. "Military Combat and Burden of Subclinical Atherosclerosis in Middle Aged Men: The ARIC Study."
23.
Kang, Han K., Tim A. Bullman, and Judith W. Taylor .2006. "Risk of Selected Cardio-Vascular Diseases and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Among Former World War II Prisoners of War."Annals of Epidemiology16 (5): 381-86.
24.
Kardiner, Abram.1941. "The Traumatic Neuroses of War." Pp. 11-111 in Psychosomatic Medicine Monograph II-III. Washington, DC: National Research Council.
25.
Kulka, Richard A.,William E. Schlenger, John A. Fairbank, Richard L. Hough, B. Kathleen Jordan, Charles R. Marmar, Daniel S. Weiss, David A. Grady, eds. 1990. Trauma and the Vietnam War Generation: Report of Findings from the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study. New York: Brunner/ Mazel.
26.
Lipton, Merrill I. and William R. Schaffer .1986. "Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in the Older Veteran."Military Medicine151:522-24.
27.
Litoff, Judy Barrett, David C. Smith, Barbara Woodall Taylor, and Charles E. Taylor .1990. Miss You: The World War II Letters of Barbara Woodall Taylor and Charles E. Taylor. Athens: University of Georgia Press.
28.
London, Andrew S. and Janet M. Wilmoth .2006. "Military Service and (Dis)Continuity in the Life Course: Evidence on Disadvantage and Mortality From the Health and Retirement Study and the Study of Assets and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest-Old."Research on Aging28:135-59.
29.
Lynch, John and George Davey Smith .2005. "A Life Course Approach to Chronic Disease Epidemiology." Annual Review of Public Health26:1-35.
30.
Martin, Leslie R., and Howard S. Friedman .2000. "Comparing Personality Scales Across Time: An Illustrative Study of Validity and Consistency in a Large Archival Data Set."Journal of Personality68 (1): 85-110.
31.
Martin, Leslie R., Howard S. Friedman, Joan S. Tucker, Joseph E. Schwartz, Michael H. Criqui, Deborah L. Wingard, and Carol Tomlinson-Keasey .1995. "An Archival Prospective Study of Mental Health and Longevity."Health Psychology14 (5): 381-87.
32.
Page, William F.2001. "Long-Term Heart Disease and Stroke Mortality Among Former American Prisoners of War of World War II and the Korean Conflict: Results of a 50-Year Follow-Up."Military Medicine166 (9): 803-808.
33.
Pavalko, Eliza K., and Glen H. Elder , Jr.1990. "World War II and Divorce: A Life Course Perspective."American Journal of Sociology95 (5): 1213-34.
34.
Schnurr, Paula P., and Bonnie L. Green .2004. Trauma and Health: Physical Health Consequences of Exposure to Extreme Stress. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
35.
Schnurr, Paula P., Avron Spiro, III, Carolyn M. Aldwin, and Therese A. Stukel .1998. "Physical Symptom Trajectories Following Trauma Exposure: Longitudinal Findings From the Normative Aging Study."Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease186 (9): 522-28.
36.
Scott, William A.1955. "Reliability of Content Analysis: The Case of Nominal Data."Public Opinion Quarterly19 (3): 321-25.
37.
Solomon, Zahava, and Karni Ginzburg.1998. "War Trauma and the Aged: An Israeli Perspective." Pp. 135-152 in Handbook of Aging and Mental Health, edited Jacob Lomranz.New York : Plenum.
38.
Swank, R.L.1949. "Combat Exhaustion." Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease109:475-508.
39.
Yamaguchi, Kazuo.1991. Event History Analysis. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
