The Health and Quality of Life of Dutch Peacekeeping Veterans, 40 Years After the Mission, and Their Association With Deployment-Related Stressors

The long-term effects of a peacekeeping deployment on veterans’ health and quality of life are relatively neglected in the literature. We tested the hypothesis that stressors experienced during a peacekeeping mission about 40 years ago are associated with the health and quality of life of Dutch peacekeeping veterans while taking postdeployment life events and coping styles into account. In total, 785 Dutch UNIFIL (1979–1985) veterans were surveyed about their physical and mental health, quality of life, combat experiences, aftermath of battle experiences, and perceived threat, life events, and coping. Overall, Dutch UNIFIL veterans do fine. However, almost one in five is (still) struggling with their mental health. From the deployment stressors, only perceived threat is negatively associated with veterans’ mental health and quality of life. Our findings show that the influence of subjective deployment stressors should be addressed to better understand the long-term health outcomes of peacekeeping veterans.