Did Strategic Bombing in the Second World War lead to ‘German Angst’? A large-scale empirical test across 89 German cities.

Obschonka, Martin and Stuetzer, Michael and Peter, Rentfrow and Jeff, Potter and Samuel, Gosling (2017): Did Strategic Bombing in the Second World War lead to ‘German Angst’? A large-scale empirical test across 89 German cities. Published in: European Journal of Personality , Vol. 31, No. 3 (2017): pp. 234-257.

Abstract

A widespread stereotype holds that the Germans are notorious worriers, an idea captured by the term, German Angst. An analysis of country-level neurotic personality traits (Trait Anxiety, Trait Depression, and Trait Neuroticism; N = 7,210,276) across 109 countries provided mixed support for this idea; Germany ranked 20th, 31st, and 53rd for Depression, Anxiety, and Neuroticism respectively suggesting, at best, the national stereotype is only partly valid. Theories put forward to explain the stereotypical characterization of Germany focus on the collective traumatic events experienced by Germany during WWII, such as the massive strategic bombing of German cities. We thus examined the link between strategic bombing of 89 German cities and today’s regional levels in neurotic traits (N = 33,534) and related mental health problems. Contrary to the WWII-bombing hypothesis, we found negative effects of strategic bombing on regional Trait Depression and mental health problems. This finding was robust when controlling for a host of economic factors and social structure. We also found Resilience X Stressor interactions: Cities with more severe bombings show more resilience today: lower levels of neurotic traits and mental health problems in the face of a current major stressor – economic hardship.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: German Angst; Neuroticism; Personality; Strategic Bombing; Resilience; Cities; World War II
• Subjects: I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I0 - General; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty; N - Economic History > N9 - Regional and Urban History

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