2.1. Participants and procedure

Israeli ex-POWs who participated in the 1973 Yom Kippur War were measured at four time points: 1991 (T1), 2003 (T2), 2008 (T3) and 2015 (T4).

According to Israel’s Ministry of Defense, 240 soldiers from the Israel Defense Force land forces were captured during the Yom Kippur War. A total of 217 ex-POWs residing in Israel at T1 were approached, and 164 participated in the study. In T2, out of the ex-POWs from T1, 144 ex-POWs participated (10 could not be located/refused, six could not participate due to mental deterioration and four had died). In T3, we contacted ex-POWs who participated in T1, and while attrition took place, there was also an addition of participants. In T3, 183 ex-POWs participated (29 could not be located/refused, six could not participate due to mental deterioration and 20 had died). T3 included 109 ex-POWs who participated at T1, and 74 ex-POWs who did not previously participate. In T4, we approached all ex-POWs who had previously participated in any of the waves of data collection (T1-T3). In total, 158 ex-POWs took part in T4 (36 declined to participate, eight could not be located, five did not participate due to mental deterioration or other medical reasons, five were abroad and 30 had died). Of the 109 ex-POWs who participated in T3 almost all also previously participated in both T1-T2 and agreed to participate in T4. Only six refused to participate in T4. A total of 103 ex-POWs had valid data in all of the study’s variables and across all four measurements. The age of the ex-POWs at T4 was M = 65.1, SD = 4.3, min = 59, max = 80.