IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ehbiol/v46y2022ics1570677x22000387.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The effect of combat exposure on sexually transmitted diseases

Author

Listed:
  • Ackerman, Adam

Abstract

Traumatic exposures can affect beliefs and behaviors related to the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), a persistent public health problem. I leverage a natural experiment created by variation in US military deployment location assignments to estimate how combat exposure changes a surviving deployed male veteran’s probability of acquiring a sexually transmitted disease. I analyze longitudinal data from 1994 to 2008 on 485 deployed veterans with information theoretic methods to reduce the sensitivity of estimates to small samples, an infrequently observed outcome, and highly correlated covariates. For veterans assigned to a combat zone, I estimate combat exposure results in a 5.4 percentage point increase in the probability of acquiring an STD. Additional estimations provide evidence suggesting risky behaviors involving substance use or multiple sexual partners may serve as pathways from combat exposure to STDs. My results are relevant to discussions regarding STD screening and care needs for trauma exposed individuals.

Suggested Citation

  • Ackerman, Adam, 2022. "The effect of combat exposure on sexually transmitted diseases," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:46:y:2022:i:c:s1570677x22000387
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2022.101142
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1570677X22000387
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ehb.2022.101142?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joseph G. Altonji & Todd E. Elder & Christopher R. Taber, 2005. "Selection on Observed and Unobserved Variables: Assessing the Effectiveness of Catholic Schools," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(1), pages 151-184, February.
    2. Resul Cesur & Joseph J. Sabia, 2016. "When War Comes Home: The Effect of Combat Service on Domestic Violence," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 98(2), pages 209-225, May.
    3. Cesur, Resul & Sabia, Joseph J. & Tekin, Erdal, 2013. "The psychological costs of war: Military combat and mental health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 51-65.
    4. Engel, Rozlyn C. & Gallagher, Luke B. & Lyle, David S., 2010. "Military deployments and children's academic achievement: Evidence from Department of Defense Education Activity Schools," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 73-82, February.
    5. David S. Lyle, 2006. "Using Military Deployments and Job Assignments to Estimate the Effect of Parental Absences and Household Relocations on Children's Academic Achievement," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 24(2), pages 319-350, April.
    6. Golan, Amos & Judge, George G. & Miller, Douglas, 1996. "Maximum Entropy Econometrics," Staff General Research Papers Archive 1488, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    7. Paul Corral & Mungo Terbish, 2015. "Generalized maximum entropy estimation of discrete choice models," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 15(2), pages 512-522, June.
    8. Cesur, Resul & Sabia, Joseph J. & Tekin, Erdal, 2015. "Combat exposure and migraine headache: Evidence from exogenous deployment assignment," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 16(C), pages 81-99.
    9. Ackerman, Adam & Porter, Ben, 2022. "The effect of combat exposure on financial problems," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 241-257.
    10. Ackerman, Adam & Porter, Ben & Sullivan, Ryan, 2020. "The effect of combat exposure on veteran homelessness," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    11. Resul Cesur & Alexander Chesney & Joseph J. Sabia, 2016. "Combat Exposure, Cigarette Consumption, And Substance Use," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 54(3), pages 1705-1726, July.
    12. Ryan D. Edwards, 2015. "Overseas Deployment, Combat Exposure, and Well-Being in the 2010 National Survey of Veterans," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 9(1), pages 64-93.
    13. Laura E. Armey & Jonathan Lipow, 2016. "Hard lessons: combat deployment and veteran interest in higher education," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(11), pages 768-772, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ackerman, Adam & Porter, Ben, 2022. "The effect of combat exposure on financial problems," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 241-257.
    2. Ackerman, Adam & Porter, Ben & Sullivan, Ryan, 2020. "The effect of combat exposure on veteran homelessness," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    3. Laura Armey & Thomas J. Kniesner & John D. Leeth & Ryan Sullivan, 2022. "Combat, casualties, and compensation: Evidence from Iraq and Afghanistan," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 40(1), pages 66-82, January.
    4. Kıbrıs, Arzu & Cesur, Resul, 2023. "Does War Foster Cooperation or Parochialism? Evidence from a Natural Experiment among Turkish Conscripts," IZA Discussion Papers 15969, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Cesur, Resul & Freidman, Travis & Sabia, Joseph J., 2020. "War, traumatic health shocks, and religiosity," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 475-502.
    6. Resul Cesur & Joseph J. Sabia & Erdal Tekin, 2020. "Post-9/11 War Deployments Increased Crime among Veterans," NBER Working Papers 27279, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Resul Cesur & Joseph J. Sabia & W. David Bradford, 2024. "The effect of combat deployments on veteran opioid abuse," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(6), pages 1284-1318, June.
    8. Resul Cesur & Alexander Chesney & Joseph J. Sabia, 2016. "Combat Exposure, Cigarette Consumption, And Substance Use," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 54(3), pages 1705-1726, July.
    9. Cesur, Resul & Sabia, Joseph J. & Tekin, Erdal, 2013. "The psychological costs of war: Military combat and mental health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 51-65.
    10. Sebastian Negrusa & Brighita Negrusa & James Hosek, 2014. "Gone to war: have deployments increased divorces?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 27(2), pages 473-496, April.
    11. Resul Cesur & Joseph J. Sabia & W. David Bradford, 2019. "Did the War on Terror Ignite an Opioid Epidemic?," NBER Working Papers 26264, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Cesur, Resul & Sabia, Joseph J. & Tekin, Erdal, 2015. "Combat exposure and migraine headache: Evidence from exogenous deployment assignment," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 16(C), pages 81-99.
    13. Ryan D. Edwards, 2015. "Overseas Deployment, Combat Exposure, and Well-Being in the 2010 National Survey of Veterans," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 9(1), pages 64-93.
    14. Jesse M. Cunha & Yu-Chu Shen & Zachary R. Burke, 2018. "Contrasting the Impacts of Combat and Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief Missions on the Mental Health of Military Service Members," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(1), pages 62-77, January.
    15. Brighita Negrusa & Sebastian Negrusa, 2014. "Home Front: Post-Deployment Mental Health and Divorces," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(3), pages 895-916, June.
    16. Luca Secondi, 2019. "Expiry Dates, Consumer Behavior, and Food Waste: How Would Italian Consumers React If There Were No Longer “Best Before” Labels?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-15, December.
    17. Bharati, Tushar, 2022. "The long shadow of the Kargil War: The effect of early-life stress on education," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    18. Clara Cicatiello & Luca Secondi & Ludovica Principato, 2019. "Investigating Consumers’ Perception of Discounted Suboptimal Products at Retail Stores," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-10, July.
    19. Dominic Rohner, 2022. "Conflict, Civil Wars and Human Development," Cahiers de Recherches Economiques du Département d'économie 22.08, Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, Département d’économie.
    20. Bäckström, Peter & Hanes, Niklas, 2023. "The Impact of Peacekeeping on Post-Deployment Earnings for Swedish Veterans," Umeå Economic Studies 1010, Umeå University, Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Sexually transmitted disease; Traumatic exposure; Combat; Veterans; Military; Health harm;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H56 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - National Security and War
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:46:y:2022:i:c:s1570677x22000387. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/622964 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.