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Research on Aging
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The Lifelong Mortality Risks of World War II Experiences

Glen H. Elder, Jr

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, glen_elder{at}unc.edu

Elizabeth C. Clipp

Duke University Medical Center

J. Scott Brown

Miami University at Oxford, Ohio

Leslie R. Martin

La Sierra University

Howard S. Friedman

University of California, Riverside

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.

Key Words: life course • military • World War II • mortality risks

This version was published on July 1, 2009

Research on Aging, Vol. 31, No. 4, 391-412 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0164027509333447
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