Guilt among Ex-Prisoners of War

Zahava Solomon*, Sharon Avidor, Hila Givon Mantin

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

The article explores guilt and its correlates among Israeli ex-prisoners of war (ex-POWs) of the 1973 Yom Kippur War (YKW; N = 119) and a matched group of veterans of the same war who were not held captive (N = 97). Results revealed that compared with controls, ex-POWs reported both more posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and more guilt, after adjusting for PTSS. Results also revealed a significant PTSS × Group interaction effect on guilt, wherein the association between PTSS and guilt was stronger among ex-POWs than among controls. Among ex-POWs, results showed that feelings of helplessness when falling captive, inwardly directed active coping, and a sense of loss of control during captivity contributed to the prediction of guilt. Support at homecoming made no contributions to variance, and circumstances of falling into captivity did not predict guilt. Results support the notion that guilt is a significant component of the psychological aftermath of war captivity, and highlight its correlates. Clinical and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)721-739
Number of pages19
JournalJournal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma
Volume24
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - 9 Aug 2015

Keywords

  • coping
  • longitudinal data
  • posttraumatic stress symptoms
  • war captivity

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