Productive Aging Profiles Among Vietnamese War Survivors: The Role of Early-Life War Exposure and Military Service
Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan, Sara Hamm, Zachary Zimmer, Minh Nguyen

TL;DR
This study explores how early-life war exposure affects productive aging among older Vietnamese war survivors and how military service influences these outcomes.
Contribution
The study identifies distinct aging profiles and shows how war exposure and military roles shape later-life engagement patterns.
Findings
Five distinct patterns of productive aging were identified, including High Engagers and Low Engagers.
Higher war exposure intensity is linked to more active aging profiles.
Military service moderates the relationship between war exposure and engagement patterns.
Abstract
War disrupts millions of lives, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where armed conflicts are most frequent. While much is known about war’s detrimental effects on physical and psychological health, its long-term impact on productive aging remains unclear. This study investigates how early-life war exposure affects productive aging among older Vietnamese war survivors and examines the moderating role of past military service and war trauma exposure. Data come from the Vietnam Health and Aging Study (N = 2,447 war survivors aged 60+). Latent class analysis identifies patterns of engagement across five domains: work, in-kind support, caregiving, community involvement, and self-development. Multinomial logistic regressions assess relationships between war exposure intensity, military role, and engagement patterns. Our analyses identify five patterns of later-life…
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Taxonomy
TopicsPosttraumatic Stress Disorder Research · Health disparities and outcomes · Migration, Health and Trauma
