Research report Range and specificity of war-related trauma to posttraumatic stress; depression and general health perception: Displaced former World War II children in late life Kristin Strauss a, ⁎, Ulrike Dapp b , Jennifer Anders b , Wolfgang von Renteln-Kruse b , Silke Schmidt a a Department of Health and Prevention, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University Greifswald, Robert-Blum-Str. 13, 17487 Greifswald, Germany b Albertinen-Haus Centre of Geriatrics and Gerontology, University of Hamburg, Germany article info abstract Article history: Received 13 June 2010 Received in revised form 9 July 2010 Accepted 9 July 2010 Available online 7 August 2010 Background: Dose–response relation of war experiences and posttraumatic stress, depression and poor health functioning in late life is well documented in war-affected populations. The influence of differing trauma types experienced by war-affected population in the study of dose–response relation of war trauma and psychological maladaptation in late life has not been investigated. We examined a subgroup of displaced elders and investigated whether specific trauma types were associated with differential health outcomes. Methods: From representative practitioner lists, matched groups of former displaced and non- displaced World War II children were assigned, yielding a total sample of 417 participants (response rate 50%). Measurement encompassed a self-report survey including the Impact of Event Scale-Revised, the Patient Health Questionnaire and the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire. Results: Consistent dose-relation between war-related experiences and posttraumatic stress or depressive symptoms in late life was found for both, displaced and non-displaced elders, whereas a gradient for poor health perception was only found in displaced people. Trauma types derived from principal component analysis showed differential associations with health outcomes. Human Right Violations emerged as risk factor for posttraumatic stress symptoms and Deprivation & Threat to Life as risk factor for depressive symptoms. Poor self-rated health was associated with multiple trauma types. Limitations: Non-random recruitment, retrospective design and use of self-report. Conclusions: Posttraumatic stress and depression are associated with war-related experiences more than 60 years after World War II. Results suggest that different trauma types lead to unique variants of syndrome configurations, which may result from different etiological factors. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Posttraumatic stress Depression Trauma Dose–response gradient Displacement Children who grow up in war zones “are typically exposed to multiple stressors including physical harm, intimidation or other forms of psychological trauma, loss, deprivation, malnutrition, bereavement, or abuse” (Berman, 2001, p.245). In recent years, however, there has been growing recognition that war-related stressors have the potential to pose a risk to health (Porter and Halsam, 2005). Epidemio- logical studies have identified posttraumatic stress disorder and depression as the most prevalent disorders in refugee and other war-affected populations (Joffe et al., 2003; Marshall et al., 2005; Steel et al., 2002; Ilkin et al., 2007). Additionally, some studies examined physical symptoms (Engelhard et al., 2009; Joffe et al., 2003; Shmotkin et al., 2003), loss of physical functioning (Mollica et al., 1993, 1999; Momartin et al., 2003) and loss of social functioning (Mollica et al., 1993; Shmotkin et al., 2003) as relevant coexisting Journal of Affective Disorders 128 (2011) 267–276 ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: + 49 3834 86 3802; fax: + 49 3834 86 3801. E-mail address: stine_str@yahoo.de (K. Strauss). 0165-0327/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2010.07.009 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Affective Disorders journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jad