Impact of Modern War

According to Jain (2012), the following are the effects of modern wars upon society:

1. Modern wars now injure not only the vanquished, but also the victor. As a result,

modern people are heavily burdened of the effects of the modern wars.
2. Although there are several benefits arising from wars, these are outweighed by the

sufferings and miseries that people experience thereafter.

Jain (2012) also mentioned that modern wars have social costs:
1. Modern wars usually create strains on the minds not only of the affected people, but

also of the soldiers. Hence, it is not surprising that mental derangement in the armed

services occur whenever there are wars.

2. The traditional functions of institutions like families, schools, and churches are

neglected during war.

3. Considerably, husbands are separated from their wives and children during wars. This

is the reason why families suffer the severe jolt of being separated from their loved

ones.
4. Wars significantly distort the mind of people. Not only that, it also ignites the feeling

of hatred
5. During modern wars, people are brutalized because of the relentless struggle against

life and dignity of the human race.

The Civil War in Serbia

The civil war in the Serbian region of Kosovo is a conflict that still stands today and is a

hotbed for military activity. The people in the region have seen many nasty things due to the war.

Nexhmedin Morina (Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam,

The Netherlands), Konrad Reschke(Department of Psychology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig,

Germany) and Stefan G. Hofmann(Department of Psychology, Boston University, Boston,

Massachusetts, USA) have done research on this subject and the long term effects on war-related

death of family members in that region.

The scientists methods are to examine the long-term outcomes of war-related death of

family members, the authors investigated the prevalence rates of major depressive episode

(MDE), anxiety disorders, and quality of life among civilian war survivors with or without war-

related death of first-degree family members 9 years after the war in Kosovo. Compared to

participants without war-related death of family members, those who had experienced such loss

had significantly higher prevalence rates of MDE, posttraumatic stress disorder, and generalized

anxiety disorder, and reported a lower quality of life 9 years after the war. These results indicate

that bereaved civilian survivors of war experience significant mental health problems many years

after the war.

Their method of research was the current study followed an interview-based cross-

sectional design. The interviews were conducted in 2008 (9 years after the war) in the Kosovo

regions of Drenica and Podujeve. These two regions were chosen for feasibility reasons.

Participants had to be at least 25 years old (i.e., at least 16 during the war) and had to report at

least one war-related traumatic experience to be eligible for this study. The interviews were

conducted by two masters-level psychology students who were trained in conducting the

interviews by the first author. No inter-rater reliability was measured. The interview results ere

recorded in two tables. The first table (Table 1) was for Socio-demographic and Trauma-Related

Characteristics and the second table (Table 2) was for depression and anxiety disorders among

bereaved and nonbereaved participants. The samples were of bereaved groups compared to
nonbereaved groups. Traumatic events were measured using a checklist that assesses 18

potentially war-related traumatic events and has been used before in the Kosovar population.

The results were that a t test from Table 1 revealed that bereaved participants reported a

significantly higher number of war-related potentially traumatic events than nonbereaved

participants. The two groups did not significantly differ with respect to reporting pre- or postwar

potentially traumatic events. The most frequently reported war-related traumatic events in both

groups were forced evacuation under dangerous conditions. Table 2 gives the point prevalence

rates of MDE and anxiety disorders after being adjusted for the number of war-related potentially

traumatic events. Bereaved participants were more than twice as likely to suffer from MDE,

PTSD, or GAD compared to nonbereaved. Finally, bereaved participants reported lower scores

on quality of life than the nonbereaved participants as measured with the Eurohis. The results of

this study confirmed the expectation that civilian war survivors who have lost first-degree family

members due to war-related violence nearly a decade prior to assessment suffer more from MDE,

PTSD, and GAD and report a lower quality of life than nonbereaved civilian war survivors.

This study offers pioneering results demonstrating that bereaved civilian war survivors

suffer more from psychiatric morbidity than do nonbereaved war survivors. War is a terrible and

destructive thing. Studies like this are important to show people how war effects families and

their well being. If anything this study should influence people to strive for peace because it’s not

worth it for a family to be scared for life over a political decision.

References
Jain, M. (2012). What are the effects of modern war upon society? Preserve Articles. Retrieved

from http://www.preservearticles.com/2012031327124/what-are-the-effects-of-modern-

war-upon-society.html

Morina, N., Hofmann, S. & Reschke, K. (2011). Long-term outcomes of war-related death of

family members in Kosovar civilian survivors. Death Studies, 35(4). doi:

10.1080/07481187.2011.553340