The Stanford-Terman Study Revisited: Postwar Emotional Health of World War II Veterans

American men were mobilized for military service in World War I1 at ages that ranged from late adolescence to midlife. Using data on high-ability men born before 1920 from the Stanford-Terman Longitudinal Study, I investigated the implications of men's age at mobilization for their emotional health in the postwar years up to 1960. The younger men (ages 26-31 years) were less likely to have been pulled out of well-established work and family roles compared to the older veterans (ages 32-37 years), but they also brought less maturity and coping experience to their military service. Clinical assessments of emotional problems in 1950 placed the younger men at greater risk, except for those who had wartime combat and leadership experience. Life-stage differences in risk for emotional problems diminished by 1960 and overall when taking into account relative postwar earnings deprivation. I interpret these findings in terms of the protective function of acquired competence in stressful times.