Postwar winners and losers in the long run: determinants of war related stress symptoms and posttraumatic growth.

The study focuses on the long-term impact of war on adolescents (N = 821) and adults (N = 870) living in a war afflicted Israeli community a year after the war. Results indicate the following: (a) stress symptoms and posttraumatic growth (PTG) correlate negatively with each other. (b) Age was positively associated with stress symptoms and negatively with PTG. (c) Economic condition predicted stress symptoms as well as PTG of adults better than exposure to traumatic events, whereas for school students the best predictor of stress symptoms was exposure to traumatic events while the best predictor of PTG was age of participants.