The Long Shadow of War

Long after they disappear from the headlines, war and conflict continue to shape the lives of those who lived through them – including how people think about violence inside the home.

Women exposed to heavy bombing during the Vietnam War are significantly more likely as adults to justify intimate partner violence decades later, our new research published in the Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics shows.

The findings point to a hidden and rarely discussed consequence of war: its ability to reshape social norms across generations.

With major wars ongoing in the Gaza Strip, Sudan, Ukraine and Myanmar, the research raises the uncomfortable possibility that today’s conflicts may already be creating conditions for future violence against women.

A long shadow of war

Data analysed from more than 17,000 Vietnamese women living across 434 districts – combined with historical bombing intensity during the Vietnam War between 1965 and 1975 – allowed us to examine whether exposure to conflict during childhood was linked to attitudes toward intimate partner violence later in life.

The pattern was clear.

Women who grew up in heavily bombed areas were more likely to agree a husband was justified in hitting his wife in certain situations; if she argued with him, neglected children, or refused sex.

These attitudes matter. Social acceptance of violence plays a powerful role in shaping behaviour, reporting, and help-seeking. Where violence is normalised, women are less likely to seek support, communities are less likely to intervene, and abusive behaviour is more likely to persist.

The effects of war, in other words, do not remain confined to battlefields.

Education may be one of the key pathways

One of the strongest explanations appears to be disrupted education.

During the Vietnam War, exposure to bombing during a woman’s adolescence significantly reduced school attendance and completion. This matters: education is strongly linked to attitudes toward gender equality and violence against women.

Girls who remain in school are more likely to develop economic independence, social networks, and greater decision-making power later in life.

Education also changes how people understand gender roles, authority, and acceptable behaviour within relationships.

Protecting girls’ education during conflict is not just a priority in the education sector – it is also a long-term strategy for preventing violence.

Despite this, education is often treated as secondary during humanitarian crises, overshadowed by immediate needs such as food, shelter, and medical care. Those responses are essential, but the long-term social consequences of interrupted schooling are rarely part of the conversation.

Violence can echo across generations

The effects of conflict may extend beyond one generation, early evidence from the research also found.

Women exposed to wartime bombing were more likely to endorse physical punishment of children, suggesting that violence-related norms formed during conflict may continue through parenting practices and family life. These findings align with broader evidence that childhood exposure to violence and instability can have lasting effects on attitudes, relationships, and mental health well into adulthood.

It is important to note this does not mean people exposed to war are destined to become violent or accepting of violence. Many individuals, families, and communities show extraordinary resilience after conflict.

But war changes the social environments in which children grow up — and those changes can shape beliefs and behaviours for decades.

But why does this matter now?

Millions of children today are growing up under conditions of war and displacement.

In the Gaza Strip, schools and universities have been destroyed on a massive scale. In Sudan, conflict has displaced millions of children and disrupted education systems across the country. In Ukraine and Myanmar, many children have spent their formative years surrounded by insecurity and violence.

The immediate humanitarian costs are devastating and visible. The long-term social consequences are slower, quieter, and much easier to ignore.

But they matter.

If war can shape attitudes toward violence decades later, then violence prevention cannot begin only after conflict ends. It must also involve protecting education, stability, and social support systems during conflict itself.

The children living through today’s wars will carry those experiences into the future. The question is whether governments and humanitarian systems are prepared to recognise the long shadow those conflicts may leave behind.

Publication details

Doan-Pham, P., Mavisakalyan, A., & True, J. (2026). The Long-Term Relationship Between War and Attitudes Toward Domestic Violence: Evidence from Vietnam. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2026.102567