Background: In the military context, high levels of physiological and psychological stress together can compromise individual’s ability to complete given duty or mission and increase dropout rates. The purpose of this study was to investigate if baseline physical fitness, body composition, hormonal and psychological factors could predict dropout from a 10-day intense winter military survival training. Methods: 69 conscripts volunteered to participate in the study. Physical fitness (muscle strength and power, muscle endurance, and aerobic fitness), body composition and hormonal variables (BDNF, testosterone, cortisol, SHBG, DHEAS, IGF-1) together with self-reported psychological factors (short five personality, hardiness, sense of coherence, stress, depression) were assessed prior the survival training. Results: During the survival training, 20 conscripts (29%) dropped out. Baseline aerobic fitness (hazard ratio, HR: 0.997, 95% CI: 0.994–0.999, p = 0.006) and serum cortisol (HR: 1.0006, 95% CI: 1.001–1.011, p = 0.017) predicted dropout in Cox regression model. Each 10 m increase in the 12 min running test decreased the risk for dropout by 3%. Conclusion: Although most of the physiological and psychological variables at the baseline did not predict dropout during a short-term winter survival military training, baseline information of aerobic fitness and serum cortisol concentration may be useful to target support for individuals at higher potential risk for dropout.

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The authors determined the effects of the qualities of trauma victims (ethnic background, level of trauma, level of adaptation) and of helpers (gender, type of education, field of study) on the attitudes of future members of human service professions (law, medicine, nursing, social sciences, law enforcement) toward the victims. The respondents read 6 descriptions of a fictitious victim and rated their general attitudes toward the victim described. The high-trauma and poorly adapted victims elicited more negative attitudes than did the low-trauma and well-adapted victims. The male respondents and those from vocational institutions had more negative attitudes toward the victims. The female respondents and those from the university expressed more positive attitudes. The future police officers and legal professionals tended to have more negative attitudes toward the victims than did the future medical and social care professionals. The findings did not support the assumption that the participants would hold more negative attitudes toward other-ethnic than toward same-ethnic victims.

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