engleski

Coping Strategies, Stress and Quality of Life Among Croatian War Veterans and Non-Veterans

Difficult life circumstances such as violence, war, and other traumas challenge personal capacities to deal with them. Some people cope with such situations more successfully, while others may have difficulties in coping due to various factors. One of the first surveys conducted among Croatian war veterans indicated that those veterans who spent more than 3 months on the front line met the criteria for PTSD. Even though we cannot rule out that individuals who did not actively participate in the war did not go through difficult life situations that challenge their coping capacities, we assume that the experience of war usually leaves more serious consequences on the physical, mental, spiritual and social health on people who actively participated. Therefore, our aim was to investigate differences between war veterans and non-veterans in coping strategies and how their coping strategies relate to stress levels and the quality of life. We compared three groups (N = 93): war veterans with PTSD, war veterans without PTSD and non-veterans. The factor analysis revealed nine coping strategies: Acceptance and Planning, Substance Use, Denial and Giving Up, Self-Distraction and Humor, Spirituality and Religiosity, Burdening and Self-Blame, Social Support, Active Coping and Optimism, and Withdrawal. Differences in coping strategies were found between veterans with PTSD and non-veterans on Denial and Giving Up, between veterans with PTSD, veterans without PTSD and non-veterans on Self-Distraction and Humor, and between veterans with PTSD and veterans without PTSD on Spirituality and Religiosity coping strategies. The results are interpreted with respect to the association between coping strategies, stress symptoms and quality of life.

war veterans ; non-veterans ; coping strategies ; stress ; quality of life

nije evidentirano