Adjustment to war captivity: The role of sociodemographic background, trauma severity, and immediate responses, in the long-term mental health of Israeli ex-POWs

This study assessed the role of sociodemographic features, pre-captivity co mbat exposure, captivity severity, emotional responses and coping during ca ptivity, and social support at homecoming, to the short- and long-term ment al health of 164 Israeli POWs of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The major contrib utors to the POWs' mental health were psychological responses during captiv ity, followed first by their education and ethnic status, and then by sever ity of captivity. Both traumatic stress of captivity and the results of the study were discussed in the light of Conservation of Resources (COR) theor y.