Within-nation variation in war exposure and psychological and physical adjustment

Abstract

Extensive evidence suggests that war-related trauma negatively affects health, yet its long-term and transgenerational effects on psychological and physical adjustment remain poorly understood. This study examines whether individuals who experienced greater war exposure in early childhood—specifically variation in bombardment intensity across German municipalities during the Second World War—show lower, similar, or better psychological (life satisfaction, affective well-being, and mental health) and physical adjustment (self-rated and physical health) in late adulthood compared to less exposed peers. The study also analyzes intergenerational effects by investigating whether the children of parents who were more versus less exposed to bombardments differed in psychological and physical adjustment in midlife. War exposure was measured using exogenous variation in regional housing destruction across 1,739 German municipalities (0%–97% destroyed) during the Second World War. Combining these historical data with individual data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we analyzed three samples: two childhood-exposed samples (N = 1,975, Mage = 73.44; N = 959, Mage = 72.09) and one consisting of their children (N = 1,747, Mage = 51.67). Supporting perspectives on individual resilience, the findings revealed no significant associations between early-life war exposure and late-life adjustment. Likewise, parents’ war experiences were not associated with their children’s midlife adjustment. Process analyses, including socioeconomic status, control beliefs, and general stress responses only partially accounted for the observed associations. These results challenge the notion of inevitable long-term or intergenerational harm from early-life trauma and highlight the need for future replication studies examining individual differences in responses to war exposure. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)