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Only a few studies have been conducted so far on the long-term impact of war. We investigated whether a life-long impact of the war experiences could be detected in advanced-agers who have successfully overcome all life's challenges. The participants in this study were oldest-old (80+ years) residents of retirement homes in Zagreb (Croatia), who were divided into two groups – 'war-exposed' and 'not-exposed' – according to their direct war experience (First World War, Second World War, Croatian Homeland War). Within this 1906–1928 birth cohort, a higher percentage of participants with war experiences reached extreme longevity (95+ years). We found no significant difference (p < 0.01) between the two groups concerning demographic and socio-economic characteristics, their life satisfaction, their self-rated current health and functional ability status. Despite numerous similarities, several traits related to life-history, current quality of life, attitudes and reflections distinguish the group of participants with direct war experience. The kind of war involvement – active military service, imprisonment in concentration camps or prisons, forced migration due to war and war-related death of close family members – stretched through various aspects of the life-history features, quality of life and attitudes. It differed for men and women, so it is no wonder that the significance pattern in the two genders mostly seems mutually exclusive. Socio-economic situations strongly differed by gender and according to the kind of war exposure, amplifying the differences within the 'war-exposed' group in terms of the life-long impact of wars on their lives. Therefore, we could claim that the war experiences were not the same for everybody, and that they had lasting consequences on the lifecourse of persons who directly faced war-related events. The results also point to the high resilience capacity as a common feature among persons who survived direct exposure to at least two wars and yet survived to exceptionally old age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Studia Ethnologica Croatica is the property of Studia Ethnologica Croatica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study aimed to determine the latent dimensions of all relevant factors about engagement of women in judo, to determine the intercorrelations among these latent dimensions, as well as the correlations with three relevant variables. Final goal was to determine the differences in revealed latent dimensions, in relation to several independent variables: educational level, marital status, impulses to engage in judo, then depending are the women athletes (competitors) or not, members of the Board or not, trainers or not. A total of 50 female judokas from a larger number of Croatian clubs were examined, by specially composed the survey. The results showed that all seven questionnaires showed medium to high satisfactory reliability, together with good construct validity, in 15 latent dimensions that are revealed. It can be noticed that relatively older women have more obligations and more barriers that oppose to their engagement in judo. Only small number of differences are found among women engaged in judo, mainly among participants who are members of the Board in the club or Croatian Judo Federation, as compared with those who are not. Small number of statistically significant differences (as well as the correlations) can be also observed as the fact that all women partially share similar problems, while the media strategies are perceived as the most powerful to increase women's persistence in judo, in any type of engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]