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The Impact of Early Life War Exposure on Mental Health among Older Adults in Northern and Central Vietnam.

ABSTRACT: Most Vietnamese young adults who experienced the American War were exposed to war-related violence, which can exert a lifelong impact. We analyze survey data collected among northern and central Vietnamese older adults in the 2018 Vietnam Health and Aging Study (N = 2,447) to examine the association between various war traumas, psychological distress, and suicidal ideation. Informed by life course and stress process perspectives, we use structural equation models with multiple mediators to analyze the relationship between mental health outcomes and five types of wartime stress exposure: loss of family and friends, witnessing death, malevolent living conditions, life threat, and moral injury. Our findings reveal enduring mental health impacts of war among survivors. Wartime stress exposure's influence on mental health is mediated by recent comorbidities and stressful life events. Loss of family members, witnessing death, and malevolent living conditions during war are particularly salient risks for psychological distress.

SUBMITTER: Kovnick MO

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8633195 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The Impact of Early Life War Exposure on Mental Health among Older Adults in Northern and Central Vietnam.

Kovnick Miles O MO Young Yvette Y Tran Nhung N Teerawichitchainan Bussarawan B Tran Toan Khanh TK Korinek Kim K

Journal of health and social behavior 20211008 4

Most Vietnamese young adults who experienced the American War were exposed to war-related violence, which can exert a lifelong impact. We analyze survey data collected among northern and central Vietnamese older adults in the 2018 Vietnam Health and Aging Study (N = 2,447) to examine the association between various war traumas, psychological distress, and suicidal ideation. Informed by life course and stress process perspectives, we use structural equation models with multiple mediators to analy ...[more]

PMID: 34622692

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Project description:Background and objectivesThe role of early life stressors in subjective aging is weakly understood, especially in low- to middle-income countries. This paper investigated how early life stressors encountered in armed conflict influence subjective age among Vietnamese older adults who experienced war over decades of their early life.Research design and methodsWe analyzed survey data from the 2018 Vietnam Health and Aging Study involving 2,447 Vietnamese older adults who encountered diverse war-related stressors in early adulthood. The analytical sample (N = 2,341) included 50.9% women and 49.1% men, with an average age of 69.8. 41.1% are military veterans. We conducted survey-adjusted multinomial logistic regression analyses with mediation to predict the probability of feeling younger or older than one's chronological age. We examined how childhood adversity (i.e., childhood hunger and low parental SES) and wartime stressors (i.e., war-related violence, malevolent environment, and military service) influenced late-life subjective age, both directly and as mediated by late-life mental, functional, and physical health.ResultsWe found significant associations between early adulthood war-related stressors and subjective age. Formal military service significantly lessened the relative risk of feeling subjectively old, and more plentiful wartime violence exposures significantly increased the risk of feeling younger than one's chronological age. Violence exposure's effects were both direct and indirect through functional and mental health. Conversely, greater exposure to wartime malevolent conditions (e.g., shortages of clean water and evacuations) and multiple episodes of severe hunger in childhood increased the risk of feeling older, effects both direct and mediated by late-life functional and mental health.Discussion and implicationsResults suggest wartime stressors, especially war's malevolent environments and severe childhood hunger, experienced in many conflict-affected populations globally, have the potential to subjectively "age" survivors. Yet, not all war exposures are equal, and some may yield psychological and socioeconomic resources that support healthy aging.

Project description:Relatively little has been written about the military women who served in Vietnam, and there is virtually no literature on deployed civilian women (non-military). We examined the experiences of 1285 American women, military and civilian, who served in Vietnam during the war and responded to a mail survey conducted approximately 25 years later in which they were asked to report and reflect upon their experiences and social and health histories. We compare civilian women, primarily American Red Cross workers, to military women stratified by length of service, describe their demographic characteristics and warzone experiences (including working conditions, exposure to casualties and sexual harassment), and their homecoming following Vietnam. We assess current health and well-being and also compare the sample to age- and temporally-comparable women in the General Social Survey (GSS), with which our survey shared some measures. Short-term (<10 years) military service women (28%) were more likely to report their Vietnam experience as "highly stressful" than were career (>20 years; 12%) and civilian women (13%). Additional differences regarding warzone experiences, homecoming support, and health outcomes were found among groups. All military and civilian women who served in Vietnam were less likely to have married or have had children than women from the general population, ?2 (8) = 643.72, p < .001. Career military women were happier than women in the general population (48% were "very happy", as compared to 38%). Civilian women who served in Vietnam reported better health than women in the other groups. Regression analyses indicated that long-term physical health was mainly influenced by demographic characteristics, and that mental health and PTSD symptoms were influenced by warzone and homecoming experiences. Overall, this paper provides insight into the experiences of the understudied women who served in Vietnam, and sheds light on subgroup differences within the sample.

Dataset Information

The Impact of Early Life War Exposure on Mental Health among Older Adults in Northern and Central Vietnam.

Publications

The Impact of Early Life War Exposure on Mental Health among Older Adults in Northern and Central Vietnam.

Similar Datasets

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