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Proving cause and effect in traumatic stress: The draft lottery as a natural experiment
Author(s) -
Hearst Norman,
Newman Thomas B.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
journal of traumatic stress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.259
H-Index - 134
eISSN - 1573-6598
pISSN - 0894-9867
DOI - 10.1002/jts.2490010205
Subject(s) - lottery , psychology , mental health , traumatic stress , psychiatry , vietnam war , dozen , criminology , clinical psychology , medicine , political science , law , statistics , mathematics , arithmetic
A dozen years after the end of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam war, considerable evidence suggests that some Vietnam veterans have suffered longterm mental health problems as a result of their experiences while in the military. Published reports began with the first descriptions of post‐traumatic stress disorder, which is now a recognized psychiatric diagnosis. Recently, we have added to this literature by using a new technique based on the military draft lottery of 1970–1972. This article discusses the rationale behind the approach that we used, summarizes our results, which have been published in detail elsewhere, discusses how our results complement those of previous studies, and suggests ways in which similar techniques might be used to further investigate delayed effects of the Vietnam‐era military draft.