Military-related experiences and late-life depressive symptomatology among Japanese-American world war II veterans

Abstract

Objectives: To examine military service-related variables and late-life depressive symptomatology among older Japanese-American males.

Method: This study is a secondary data analysis of a longitudinal, community-based study. A sample of 2669 participants (771 World War II veterans, 1898 civilians) was drawn from the Honolulu-Asia Aging Study. Depressive symptoms were assessed twice across a 9-year period with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression scale. Covariates included sociodemographic, physical health, health behavior, and psychosocial variables. Combat exposure and symptomatology were examined among a subset of 426 veterans. Cross-sectional and longitudinal designs were analyzed with linear regression.

Results: Veterans and civilians did not differ in depression scores. Baseline depression scores significantly predicted follow-up depression scores. For the full sample, lower ratings of quality of life satisfaction, daily activity control and general health were associated with higher depression scores both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Among veterans, light combat exposure was marginally associated with lower depression scores and longitudinally, previous depression scores and poorer health ratings were significant predictors of depression scores.

Conclusion: Results suggest that military service does not affect late-life depressive symptomatology. However, combat exposure may play a marginal role in increased symptoms. Reasons for results include the possibility that other factors are more relevant to late-life depression, symptomatology naturally decreasing over time, or type of combat exposure measurement. Results expand literature by examination of an ethnoracial group not studied often and longitudinal examination of late-life depressive symptoms within a military-related context. Stakeholders should be knowledgeable of the distinct issues presented when serving aging veterans.

Keywords:

• Japanese-American men
• late-life depression
• military service
• older adults
• World War II veterans

Acknowledgements

Opinions, interpretations, conclusions and recommendations are those of the authors and are not necessarily endorsed by the Department of Defense. The authors thank Marnie Meyer for reviewing the drafts and providing valuable feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Alzheimer’s Association under grant (ZEN-12-239028); the Chia-Ling Chang Fund of the Hawaii Community Foundation; and by an award from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs (W81XWH-15-1-0431). Additional resources were provided by Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Pacific Islands Health Care System.