Civilian Coping Strategies in War

Abstract

This paper aims to gain further understanding of civilian experiences of war by analyzing a diary written during the siege of Breslau in 1945. This study seeks to address two key issues. Firstly, the current Peace and Conflict Studies literature lacks integration of theories from psychology, which could help gain insights into civilian coping strategies in war. Furthermore, civilian war experiences should be addressed in their historical context. Drawing from Suedfeld et al.’s (1997) adapted Ways of Coping Scale, which derives from Lazarus’ and Folkman’s (1984) theory on psychological stress and coping, a directed, qualitative content analysis explores the coping strategies used by the diarist. The study finds that the diarist mostly employs problem-oriented coping strategies, focusing on altering the threat, consisting of escaping from bombs, analyzing, preparing for, and altering the damage caused by artillery and seeking social support. Emotion-oriented coping, aimed at regulating the emotional response to a threat, mostly shows through denying the threat to maintain sleep and normality, and through distancing oneself from the threat through humor, hope, and a positive attitude. My findings form a base to adapt Suedfeld et al.’s Ways of Coping Scale to better assess civilian coping strategies in war.