IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/ijphth/v62y2017i1d10.1007_s00038-016-0841-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Military service and smoking in a cohort of northern Vietnamese older adults

Author

Listed:
  • Kim Korinek

    (University of Utah)

  • Peter Loebach

    (Weber State University)

  • Ha Ngoc Trinh

    (University of Utah)

Abstract

Objectives Wide-ranging scholarship demonstrates war’s impacts on US veterans’ health. We ask whether, among Vietnamese men of a certain age, wartime experiences contributed to initiating smoking, and thus shaped one behavioral pathway linking war exposure and older adult health. Methods We analyze the Vietnam Health and Aging Pilot Study (VHAPS), a survey of adults ages 55 and older (N = 405) conducted in one commune of northern Vietnam. We implement Cox discrete-time proportional hazards models to discern the effects of military service upon the initiation of smoking. Results Military service results in a heightened risk of initiating smoking within this cohort (HR 2.13, [CI 1.36, 3.35]). Smoking initiation is also significantly gendered and age graded. Socioeconomic position and social capital variables in the models are statistically insignificant. Conclusions This study finds that, among older northern Vietnamese men whose early adulthood coincided with mass mobilization in the Vietnam War, involvement in formal military service significantly increased the risk of initiating smoking. Military-induced smoking emerges where tobacco products were not provided by the military institution, but where social availability of tobacco was widespread.

Suggested Citation

  • Kim Korinek & Peter Loebach & Ha Ngoc Trinh, 2017. "Military service and smoking in a cohort of northern Vietnamese older adults," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 62(1), pages 43-51, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:ijphth:v:62:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s00038-016-0841-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s00038-016-0841-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00038-016-0841-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s00038-016-0841-9?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. Cronan, Terry A. & Conway, Terry L. & Kaszas, Suzanne L., 1991. "Starting to smoke in the navy: When, where and why," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 33(12), pages 1349-1353, January.
    2. Kelly Bedard & Olivier Deschênes, 2006. "The Long-Term Impact of Military Service on Health: Evidence from World War II and Korean War Veterans," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(1), pages 176-194, March.
    3. Minoru Takakura, 2015. "Relations of participation in organized activities to smoking and drinking among Japanese youth: contextual effects of structural social capital in high school," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 60(6), pages 679-689, September.
    4. M. Merli, 2000. "Socioeconomic background and war mortality during Vietnam’s wars," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 37(1), pages 1-15, February.
    5. Morrow, Martha & Ngoc, Do Hong & Hoang, Truong Trong & Trinh, Tran Hue, 2002. "Smoking and young women in Vietnam: the influence of normative gender roles," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 55(4), pages 681-690, August.
    6. Patton, G.C. & Carlin, J.B. & Coffey, C. & Wolfe, R. & Hibbert, M. & Bowes, G., 1998. "Depression, anxiety, and smoking initiation: A prospective study over 3 years," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 88(10), pages 1518-1522.
    7. Laishram Ladusingh & Akansha Singh, 2015. "Contextual correlates of intensity of smoking in northeast India," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 60(3), pages 317-326, March.
    8. Waldron, Ingrid & Bratelli, Gary & Carriker, Laura & Sung, Wei-Chin & Vogeli, Christine & Waldman, Elizabeth, 1988. "Gender differences in tobacco use in Africa, Asia, the Pacific, and Latin America," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 27(11), pages 1269-1275, January.
    9. Boyko, E.J. & Trone, D.W. & Peterson, A.V. & Jacobson, I.G. & Littman, A.J. & Maynard, C. & Seelig, A.D. & Crum-Cianflone, N.F. & Bricker, J.B., 2015. "Longitudinal investigation of smoking initiation and relapse among younger and older US Military personnel," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 105(6), pages 1220-1229.
    10. Timo-Kolja Pförtner & Bart Clercq & Michela Lenzi & Alessio Vieno & Katharina Rathmann & Irene Moor & Anne Hublet & Michal Molcho & Anton Kunst & Matthias Richter, 2015. "Does the association between different dimension of social capital and adolescent smoking vary by socioeconomic status? a pooled cross-national analysis," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 60(8), pages 901-910, December.
    11. Teerawichitchainan, Bussarawan & Korinek, Kim, 2012. "The long-term impact of war on health and wellbeing in Northern Vietnam: Some glimpses from a recent survey," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(12), pages 1995-2004.
    12. Dominik Schori & Karen Hofmann & Thomas Abel, 2014. "Social inequality and smoking in young Swiss men: intergenerational transmission of cultural capital and health orientation," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 59(2), pages 261-270, April.
    13. Ma, G.X. & Shive, S. & Tan, Y. & Toubbeh, J., 2002. "Prevalence and predictors of tobacco use among Asian Americans in the Delaware Valley region," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 92(6), pages 1013-1020.
    14. Smith, E.A. & Malone, R.E., 2009. ""Everywhere the soldier will be": Wartime tobacco promotion in the us military," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 99(9), pages 1595-1602.
    15. Korinek, K. & Teerawichitchainan, B., 2014. "Military service, exposure to trauma, and health in older adulthood: An analysis of northern vietnamese survivors of the vietnam war," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 104(8), pages 1478-1487.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Korinek, Kim & Young, Yvette & Teerawichitchainan, Bussarawan & Kim Chuc, Nguyen Thi & Kovnick, Miles & Zimmer, Zachary, 2020. "Is war hard on the heart? Gender, wartime stress and late life cardiovascular conditions in a population of Vietnamese older adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).

    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. Eric French & Elaine Kelly & Richard Cookson & Carol Propper & Miqdad Asaria & Rosalind Raine, 2016. "Socio‐Economic Inequalities in Health Care in England," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 37, pages 371-403, September.
    2. Milica Kecmanovic, 2013. "The Short-run Effects of the Croatian War on Education, Employment, and Earnings," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 57(6), pages 991-1010, December.
    3. Torun, Huzeyfe, 2019. "Ex-ante labor market effects of compulsory military service," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 90-110.
    4. Xintong Wang & Carlos A. Flores & Alfonso Flores-Lagunes, 2020. "The Effects of Vietnam-Era Military Service on the Long-Term Health of Veterans: A Bounds Analysis," Center for Policy Research Working Papers 234, Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University.
    5. Angrist, Joshua D. & Chen, Stacey H. & Frandsen, Brigham R., 2010. "Did Vietnam veterans get sicker in the 1990s? The complicated effects of military service on self-reported health," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(11-12), pages 824-837, December.
    6. David S. Evans & Anne O’Farrell & Aishling Sheridan & Paul Kavanagh, 2023. "Social Connectedness and Smoking among Adolescents in Ireland: An Analysis of the Health Behaviour in Schoolchildren Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(9), pages 1-11, April.
    7. Park, Cheolsung & Kang, Changhui, 2008. "Does education induce healthy lifestyle?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 1516-1531, December.
    8. Hai-Anh H. Dang & Trung X. Hoang & Ha Nguyen, 2021. "The Long-Run and Gender-Equalizing Impacts of School Access: Evidence from the First Indochina War," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 70(1), pages 453-484.
    9. Marianne Page, 2006. "Father's Education and Children's Human Capital: Evidence from the World War II GI Bill," Working Papers 84, University of California, Davis, Department of Economics.
    10. Torun, Huzeyfe & Tumen, Semih, 2016. "The effects of compulsory military service exemption on education and labor market outcomes: Evidence from a natural experiment," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 16-35.
    11. Edwards, Ryan, 2008. "Widening health inequalities among U.S. military retirees since 1974," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(11), pages 1657-1668, December.
    12. Yamamura, Eiji, 2010. "Effects of Female Labor Participation and Marital Status on Smoking Behavior in Japan," MPRA Paper 21789, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Yang, Tingzhong & Barnett, Ross & Jiang, Shuhan & Yu, Lingwei & Xian, Hong & Ying, Jun & Zheng, Weijun, 2016. "Gender balance and its impact on male and female smoking rates in Chinese cities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 9-17.
    14. Rusdi Abd Rashid & Sharmilla Kanagasundram & Mahmoud Danaee & Hazreen Abdul Majid & Ahmad Hatim Sulaiman & Muhammad Muhsin Ahmad Zahari & Chong Guan Ng & Benedict Francis & Wan Azlinda Irnee Wan Husin, 2019. "The Prevalence of Smoking, Determinants and Chance of Psychological Problems among Smokers in an Urban Community Housing Project in Malaysia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-9, May.
    15. Nobuaki Yamashita & Trong‐Anh Trinh, 2022. "Long‐Term Effects of Vietnam War: Agent Orange and the Health of Vietnamese People After 30 Years," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 36(2), pages 180-202, June.
    16. Daniel K. Fetter, 2013. "How Do Mortgage Subsidies Affect Home Ownership? Evidence from the Mid-century GI Bills," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 5(2), pages 111-147, May.
    17. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/45gqdl5l4387f9b9l12gr2g3kt is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Hou, Benyufang & Liu, Hong & Wang, Sophie Xuefei, 2020. "Returns to military service in off-farm wage employment: Evidence from rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    19. Robert J. Wellman & Marie-Pierre Sylvestre & Erin K. O’Loughlin & Hartley Dutczak & Annie Montreuil & Geetanjali D. Datta & Jennifer O’Loughlin, 2018. "Socioeconomic status is associated with the prevalence and co-occurrence of risk factors for cigarette smoking initiation during adolescence," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 63(1), pages 125-136, January.
    20. Eva Deuchert & Martin Huber, 2017. "A Cautionary Tale About Control Variables in IV Estimation," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 79(3), pages 411-425, June.
    21. Rabbitt, Matthew P. & Smith, Michael D., 2021. "Food Insecurity Among Working-Age Veterans," USDA Miscellaneous 311332, United States Department of Agriculture.

    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:spr:ijphth:v:62:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s00038-016-0841-9. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.