The Long-Term Health Effects of Mass Political Violence: Evidence from China’s Cultural Revolution

We examine the long-term health effects of mass political violence experienced in utero and in adolescence using China’s Cultural Revolution as a natural experiment. We find that individuals who were in utero in the Cultural Revolution have reduced lung capacity later in life. We also find that indi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social indicators research 2017-05, Vol.132 (1), p.257-272
Main Authors: Islam, Asadul, Raschky, Paul, Smyth, Russell
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activities of daily living
Adolescents
Age
Aging
Blood pressure
Body Composition
Childhood
Cognitive ability
Cultural Revolution
Effects
Elementary education
Epidemiology
Famine
Females
Gender Differences
Health
Health education
Human Geography
Islam
Long term
Longitudinal Studies
Massacres
Microeconomics
Murders & murder attempts
Older Adults
Political behavior
Political violence
Public Health
Quality of Life Research
Revolutions
Rural areas
Rural Urban Differences
Social Sciences
Sociology
Statistical analysis
Teenagers
Trauma
Urban Areas
Violence
Young Children
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Summary:We examine the long-term health effects of mass political violence experienced in utero and in adolescence using China’s Cultural Revolution as a natural experiment. We find that individuals who were in utero in the Cultural Revolution have reduced lung capacity later in life. We also find that individuals who were adolescents in the Cultural Revolution have higher blood pressure and reduced ability to engage in activities of daily living later in life. Females who were adolescents in the Cultural Revolution have reduced lung capacity later in life, while males who were adolescents in the Cultural Revolution have reduced cognitive function later in life. We find that these effects are channelled through childhood health and education as well as height, which itself is a marker of childhood health.
ISSN:0303-8300
1573-0921
DOI:10.1007/s11205-015-1030-6