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Research on Aging
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Article

The Lifelong Mortality Risks of World War II Experiences

Glen H. Elder Jr.1*, Elizabeth C. Clipp2, James Scott Brown3, Leslie R. Martin4, and Howard S. Friedman5

1 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
2 Duke University Medical Center
3 Miami University, Miami, Ohio
4 La Sierra University
5 University of California, Riverside

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: glen_elder{at}unc.edu.


  Abstract
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.

First published on March 20, 2009, doi:10.1177/0164027509333447

Research on Aging 2009;31:391.

A more recent version of this article appeared on July 1, 2009

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