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Hard to Forget: The Long-Lasting Impact of War on Mental Health

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  • Bratti, Massimiliano

    (Università degli Studi di Milano)

  • Mendola, Mariapia

    (University of Milan Bicocca)

  • Miranda, Alfonso

    (CIDE, Mexico City)

Abstract

War can have long-lasting effects on individual mental health through war trauma. In this paper, we explore the impact of constantly recalling painful episodes related to the 1992-1995 Bosnia and Herzegovina conflict on individual mental health in 2001 using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale. Potential endogeneity and reverse causality issues are addressed using objective measures of war intensity recorded at the municipality level. We find that individuals experiencing war trauma have worse mental health six years after the end of the conflict. In particular, instrumental-variable estimates show that they score 16 points (more than 1.5 standard deviations) higher on the CES-D scale (with higher scores meaning more depression symptoms) and have a 60 percentage points higher probability of being at risk of depression. Our results are robust to a number of sensitivity checks accounting for individual geographical mobility and different treatment intensities, and suggest that the negative effects on mental health are not mainly mediated by physical health problems. Back-of-the envelope calculations show large economic costs of war-trauma.

Suggested Citation

  • Bratti, Massimiliano & Mendola, Mariapia & Miranda, Alfonso, 2015. "Hard to Forget: The Long-Lasting Impact of War on Mental Health," IZA Discussion Papers 9269, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9269
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    3. Saurabh Singhal, 2018. "Early life shocks and mental health: The long-term effect of war in Vietnam," WIDER Working Paper Series 65, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Martin Philipp Heger & Eric Neumayer, 2022. "Economic legacy effects of armed conflict: Insights from the civil war in Aceh, Indonesia," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 39(4), pages 394-421, July.
    5. Constanze Fettnig, 2021. "The role of energy providers in tackling energy poverty," Working Paper Reihe der AK Wien - Materialien zu Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft 214, Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte für Wien, Abteilung Wirtschaftswissenschaft und Statistik.
    6. Aleksandar Kešeljević & Rok Spruk, 2024. "Estimating the effects of Syrian civil war," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 66(2), pages 671-703, February.
    7. Rebecca N. Thomson & John S. Carlson & Dylan S. T. Voris & Millie Shepherd & Kim Batsche-McKenzie, 2016. "A Dual-Factor Approach to Exploring Wraparound Outcomes in Children with Serious Emotional Disturbance within Community-Based Mental Health Settings," International Journal of Psychological Studies, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 9(1), pages 107-107, March.
    8. 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).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    war trauma; mental health; depression; Bosnia and Herzegovina;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development

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