“War in Europe, again? Adversity, coping, and resilience”

Abstract

Many of the listed war-like conflicts had their roots in the post-World War II antagonism of the Soviet bloc and the West. Only the fighting in Northern Ireland and Cyprus had distinctly other causes with roots in religiously motivated armed conflicts.In Volume 47, Issue 1, 1998, Applied Psychology: An International Review, APHW's sister journal, devoted a special issue (SI) to topics of Political Psychology, edited by Klaus Boehnke and Daniel Bar-Tal. The issue included a lead article on peacemaking and peacebuilding by Herb Kelman (1998). The current SI of APHW picks up this tradition. It takes sides with UNESCO's Seville Statement on Violence. The statement offers a conclusion that reads: "Just as 'wars begin in the minds of men', peace also begins in our minds. The same species who invented war is capable of inventing peace. The responsibility lies with each of us." The current SI is meant to underscore the role of psychology, in general, and applied psychology, in particular, focusing on modes of coping with the adversities of war, strengthening resilience, and paving the way to a sustainable peace not only in Europe.Findings in the SI indicate continuity and innovation in our field. The included studies align with past literature in the focus and findings on 'classical' variables in our literature on stress and coping, such as perceived risk/danger/exposure; the importance of personal and interpersonal resources such as optimism, hope, and social support; coping; and the outcomes of anxiety, depression, and distress, as well as wellbeing and resilience. For example, studies reported on the common strategies in coping (Thomas et al., 2023;Urba nski et al., 2023) or how personal resources and demographic characteristics are associated with well-being and