Study into the impact of Vietnam War on the next generation

Photo of my Dad at the site of the Battle of Coral

A few years ago, I was one of 27,000 Australian people who participated in an intergenerational Vietnam Veterans Family study. The results of that report have just been released. In many ways my memoir is a personal story that makes meaning of these statistics.

Extracts from the study
The report contains hundreds of pages of documentation. In italics below I have included some of the key findings that most strongly relate to the themes of my book.

The answer to the question of whether the service of Australian men in the Vietnam War had adverse effects on the physical, mental and social health of their sons and daughters is ‘Yes’. It is enormously important to have that answer, but that was not the only thing the Vietnam Veterans Family Study brought to light. Collectively, the study projects show that the experience of war is not confined to the time between the passing-out parade and returning home and that families as well as those deployed are intimately involved in the experience.

The first important thing to note from the findings for the sons and daughters is the pattern of the differences found. Significant differences were found for most of the measures of mental health (ever diagnosed with or treated for depression, anxiety or posttraumatic stress disorder, suicidal thoughts, and suicidal plans or actions).

In the case of physical health among the sons and daughters, only three measures out of 16 showed significant differences between the two groups. Notably, those three measures were all conditions for which psychological factors are strongly implicated—skin conditions, migraines and sleep disturbance.

In the case of depression, anxiety, and suicidal plans and actions, the sons and daughters of Vietnam veterans were almost twice as likely as the sons and daughters of Vietnam-era personnel to report being diagnosed with or treated for depression, being diagnosed with or treated for anxiety, or making plans for or attempting suicide. Reports of being diagnosed with or treated for posttraumatic stress disorder were three times more common for the sons and daughters of Vietnam veterans.

In relation to the measures of family environment when the children were growing up, three of the eight factors differed significantly between the Vietnam veteran families and the families of Vietnam-era personnel (as reported by the sons and daughters)
1. a father’s caring attitude towards his child
2. a father’s overprotective or controlling behaviour
3. an indicator of harsh parenting during childhood.

23 per cent of offspring of Vietnam veteran families reported at least one of five items on harsh parenting; this compares with 9.1 per cent of offspring of Vietnam-era personnel. It is noteworthy that the three items that contributed most to this difference were:
- verbal abuse
- too much physical punishment
- and a question covering humiliation, ridicule, bullying or mental cruelty

Strictness and regimentation were recurrent themes in the accounts of growing up in a Vietnam veteran family: ‘His whole life he was a disciplinarian and I think sometimes he went too far’ and ‘He treated us like we were in the Army’.

The extent to which some fathers ‘went too far’ was alluded to or more overtly described in other comments.

For some of the sons and daughters these events influenced their view of themselves. They grew up thinking their father’s volatility was their fault and they were ‘bad kids’.

The sons and daughters themselves were aware that their father’s wartime experiences had contributed to problems in their family and, even if they had been born after their father’s return from Vietnam, knew the war had made a difference: "My Mum said that my Dad came back a completely different person. Before he went he never smoked or drank and when he came back he did both. He had bad dreams but we were shielded from all of that."

For many Vietnam veterans and their families the war did not end in 1973. Nor did it end with the 1987 Welcome Home parade or the 1992 opening of the Vietnam Forces National Memorial in Canberra. It is hoped that publication of this report will prompt new initiatives. The research thus far has produced findings that can help direct assistance for Defence Force families in the future, in order to diminish the intergenerational transmission of problems seen among the sons and daughters of Vietnam veterans. That alone would be fitting recognition of the efforts of those who lobbied for and participated in the Vietnam Veterans Family Study.


Knowing so many other people whose fathers served in Vietnam had childhoods like mine makes me feel very sad. But this last idea, that we can learn new strategies for helping defence force personnel so their war doesn't get passed onto their families, is something very dear to my heart.

Has anyone else had a personal experience of living with a parent who has been to war? I wonder whether these statistics ring true for you too.

To all the Children of Vietnam Veterans out there, I hope you are being kind to yourselves.