The aim of the research was to establish what were the strategies of coping with stress used by Croatian soldiers during the latest war and to what degree were anxiety, the subjective estimate of threat and some forms of exposure to war reliable predictors of the use these strategies. The research was carries out on 112 Croatian soldiers, between 19 and 41 yeais of age, who had actively participated for over six month on the battlefields of southern Dalmatia. Endler’s multidimensional scales of anxiety (EMAS-T and EMAS-S) were used to examine anxiety both as a trait and a state. Additionally, The Scale of Ways of Coping with Stress in Times of War, specifically constructed for the purpose of this project, were also applied. A factor analysis of the scale of coping with stress in times of war yielded six factors which were interpreted as: imaginings, isolation, evasion, seeking social support, repression and turning to the problem. On the basis of the results obtained through a graded regressive analysis it can be concluded that anxiety on the whole has a lesser predictive validity then the subjective estimate of threat and some forms of exposure to war.
