Background: Life in the low-income urban communities of South Africa is imprinted by a cycle of violence in which young males predominantly are in the roles of both victim and perpetrator. There is some evidence that adolescents who show an attraction to cruelty can display high levels of psychosocial functioning despite the presence of posttraumatic stress symptoms. However, the role of appetitive aggression in the context of ongoing threats and daily hassles is not yet fully understood.

Background: Sexual abuse is a well-recognised risk factor for child psychopathology. Little is known regarding whether child and maternal mentalization can be considered a potential resource or protective factor in this context, respectively, mediating or moderating the relationship between sexual abuse and psychopathology.

Five years ago, the European Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ESTSS) launched European Journal of Psychotraumatology (EJPT) (Olff, 2010). Knowing very little about the world of publishing and in particular about Open Access, it was quite an adventure! Somewhat idealistic, and after having been convinced that Open Access is the future publishing model, we performed a detailed search among potential publishers and found Co-Action Publishing, a relatively small Swedish publisher but with a great deal of experience in journals publishing and with a passion for Open Access.

Background: It is well-known that exposure to combat puts individuals at risk for developing adverse psychological problems, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, and health-related behaviour problems and that the presence of combat-related injury increases the risk for psychopathology. Little is known, however, about the consequences of combat among conscripted soldiers fighting against terrorism in their homeland.