[Quality of life and sense of coherence in former German child soldiers of World War II].
OBJECTIVE
The aim of the study was to determine the quality of life and the sense of coherence in a sample of former German child soldiers of World War II.


METHODS
103 participants were recruited by the press, then administered a Short-Form-Health-Survey (SF-12), a sense-of-coherence scale (SOC) and 2 qualitative questions on possible resources in the combat situation.


RESULTS
The quality of life was not lowered compared to a comparison group of the same age. The sense of coherence was significantly higher than that of the comparison group.


CONCLUSIONS
The participants belonged to a comparably unobtrusive group of veterans. A possible protective variable might be the high sense of coherence.
Kuwert
Philipp
P
Klinik und Poliklinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie der Ernst-Moritz-Arndt Universität Greifswald am HANSE-Klinikum Stralsund, Stralsund. kuwert@uni-greifswald.de
Knaevelsrud
Christine
C
Rosenthal
Jenny
J
Dudeck
Manuela
M
Freyberger
Harald J
HJ
Spitzer
Carsten
C
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D003130:Combat Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011329:Prisoners / Q000523:psychology; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D055500:Resilience, Psychological; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D035502:Trust; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology*; D047789:World War II