Japanese scientists reveal the relationship between WWII military conscription, paternal loss, domestic abuse, and late-life health.
Childhood experiences can have a lasting impact on our health and well-being as we grow older. There is substantial evidence of the long-term effects of childhood adversity, such as economic hardship and family violence, on health outcomes later in life.
To take it a step further, a team of Japanese scientists recently explored the association between paternal military conscription (PMC) and paternal war death (PWD) during World War II, and its impact on self-rated health (SRH) among older adults.
The team gathered data from a large group of functionally independent individuals aged 65 years or older across 39 municipalities in Japan in 2016. Participants provided information about their fathers’ military conscription status and their own self-rated health through a questionnaire.
“We found that 19.7% of the participants reported PMC, with 3.3% indicating that their fathers had died during the war,” shared lead and corresponding author of the study, Takeo Fujiwara, from Tokyo Medical and Dental University. “In the age- and sex-adjusted model, older adults with PMC had a higher risk of poor health compared to those without such a paternal military.”
To arrive at their findings, the team analysed the data of 20,286 participants using multivariate logistic regression to investigate the relationship between PMC, PWD, and poor health. Additionally, causal mediation analysis was conducted to examine whether childhood economic hardship and family violence acted as mediators in the association.
The team published their results in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence.
“Interestingly, the presence of PWD did not show a significant association with poor health,” added Fujiwara. “The finding further highlighted the mediation effect of childhood family violence exposure on the relationship between PMC and poor health, with family violence explaining around 6.9% of the association.”
Overall, the study suggests that paternal military conscription, but not paternal war death, is associated with an increased risk of poor health in later life. Further, the importance of childhood family violence exposure as a partial explanation for the association between PMC and poor health is highlighted.
“Understanding the long-term effects of childhood adversity and the intergenerational consequences of war is crucial for developing targeted interventions and support systems for affected individuals,” said Fujiwara. “Our study emphasises the need for healthcare professionals and policymakers to recognise the unique challenges faced by those with a history of paternal military service and to provide appropriate resources to address their specific health needs.”