Fifty years later: the long-term psychological adjustment of ageing World War II survivors.

OBJECTIVE

Most studies of the long-term after-effects of war have focused on survivors seeking treatment or financial compensation. The present study examined the current psychological adjustment of a community sample of ageing World War II (WW II) survivors, including survivors of bombardments, persecution, resistance, combat and other violence.

METHOD

A community sample of 4057 Dutch WW II survivors answered a 4-page postal questionnaire. Of these, 1461 survivors answered a second follow-up questionnaire.

RESULTS

Even 50 years after World War II, a statistically significant but modest relationship was found to exist between exposure to shocking war events and current psychological adjustment in terms of symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and anger. A total of 66 respondents (4.6%) met the criteria for PTSD. The highest level of current PTSD (13%) was found among survivors of persecution. The lowest level of PTSD (4%) was found among civilian war victims and resistance participants, while military veterans had an intermediate score (7%). With regard to absolute numbers, civilian war victims represented the largest proportion of PTSD sufferers.

CONCLUSION

In a study of a community sample of WW II survivors, we found that most of these survivors had no severe symptoms of PTSD. Nevertheless, probably tens of thousands of Dutch individuals are still suffering from long-term after-effects from World War II. For these vulnerable survivors, the ageing process will complicate the coping process.