Scholastic Achievement and Family Marital Structure: Bedouin-Arab Adolescents From Monogamous and Polygamous Families in Israel

Abstract

In a sample of Bedouin-Arab adolescents from monogamous and polygamous families in the Negev region of Israel, the authors examined scholastic achievement levels in the subjects of Arabic, English, Hebrew, and mathematics. There were no significant differences in the scholastic achievement levels in those 4 disciplines between adolescents from monogamous families and those from polygamous families. There was, however, a significant interaction between gender and family marital structure for Hebrew scores: Polygamous family structures tended to engender higher Hebrew scores for the male participants, whereas monogamous family structures tended to engender higher Hebrew scores for the female participants. However, the major overall finding was that polygamous family marital structures did not affect deleteriously the scholastic achievement levels of the Bedouin-Arab participants.     

Scholastic achievement and family marital structure: Bedouin-Arab adolescents from monogamous and polygamous families in Israel

In a sample of Bedouin-Arab adolescents from monogamous and polygamous families in the Negev region of Israel, the authors examined scholastic achievement levels in the subjects of Arabic, English, Hebrew, and mathematics. There were no significant differences in the scholastic achievement levels in those 4 disciplines between adolescents from monogamous families and those from polygamous families. There was, however, a significant interaction between gender and family marital structure for Hebrew scores: Polygamous family structures tended to engender higher Hebrew scores for the male participants, whereas monogamous family structures tended to engender higher Hebrew scores for the female participants. However, the major overall finding was that polygamous family marital structures did not affect deleteriously the scholastic achievement levels of the Bedouin-Arab participants.     

Linguistic Assimilation of First-Generation Jewish South African Immigrants in Israel

We contribute to scholarship on the linguistic assimilation of migrants by focusing on the special case of Jewish South African migrants in Israel. English as an international language is widely used in the Israeli society, so immigrants whose mother tongue is English are a very interesting case because they might experience much less social pressure to improve their Hebrew skills than other immigrant groups who speak other languages. The study reveals that, although most first-generation immigrants participated in state-sponsored Hebrew classes and reported relatively moderate levels of language proficiency, it has not become their primary language. Hebrew proficiency proved conditional on age at arrival and rise sharply with tenure in the country and exposure to Hebrew (at origin or at destination). Hebrew proficiency is higher for migrants with more extensive contacts with Israelis and with higher education. Positive synergism emerged between language acquisition and reasons for migrating and attachment to the country.     

Toward culturally sensitive intervention with arab families in Israel

Over the past three decades, Arab society in Israel has been undergoing processes of transition. These processes are manifested by changes in the economy, education, the status of women, family structure, and by socio-cultural changes and transformations in patterns of coping with social problems. There is a serious lack of empirical research on the implications of this process for the value systems of Arab society and families in Israel and a dearth of relevant intervention-oriented literature. This article outlines the basic cultural values in the Arab society in Israel in an attempt to illuminate the relevance of these values for family structure and for direct interventions with Arab families in Israel.     

Open live supervision in family therapy

This article reviews changes in models of supervision, resulting from technological developments and reflecting a variety of theoretical approaches. The focus is on open live supervision, conducted in the presence of the family. The supervisor and a therapeutic team join the therapist and the family, creating a complex supra-system that opens up several options for therapeutic intervention. Sessions are videotaped, and therapists use recordings for additional supervision and independent study. Therapists may also show recordings to the family as part of the therapeutic process. The advantages and disadvantages of the model are considered, and examples of some of the therapeutic options are described.This model was developed in the course of the author's work teaching and supervising students at the Counseling Department of the School of Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and supervising a multi-disciplinary team including physicians, psychologists, and social workers engaged in family therapy at the Municipal Psychological Services for Schools in Jerusalem. A shorter version of this article appeared in Hebrew inSihot 5 1991. Appreciation is expressed to Batya Stein for translating the final version of this article from Hebrew. Reprint requests should be addressed to Katrit Ron, Neve Granot 3-B, Jerusalem 93706, Israel.     

“EYDELE,THE REBBE”

This article examines the categories of “secular” and “religious” and the way they are employed in Israeli literature by analyzing some of the recent debates about this issue. These debates attempted to respond to the new phenomenon of Shira emunit – “faith” or “religious” poetry – that has emerged in Israel in the last two decades. The debate, like some of the new developments it addressed, is indicative of a larger shift in Hebrew literature and Israeli culture. The secularity of Hebrew literature, a foundation of Israel’s dominant national‐secular high culture and virtually unquestioned for decades, is now being challenged. The article also traces the conflicting characteristics of Shira emunit by investigating the anthology Shira hadasha (1997) and Admiel Kosman’s poetry.     

Gay women,men, and families in rural settings: Toward the development of helping communities

The urban biases of empirical research on gay men, women, and families have resulted in minimal knowledge about gay people in rural settings. The diversity of lives of rural gay women and men and the variety of patterns of meeting the challenges of rural living are described. Processes of help-seeking and help-giving are discussed and the need for a helping community of family, friends, and caring others is affirmed. Collaboration between rural gay people and rural community psychologists is suggested to promote the development of helping communities for gay people and thereby initiate a process of change in rural settings.     

Personal experience in professional narratives: the role of helpers' families in their work with terror victims

This article describes research on the narratives of social workers who help terror victims, focusing on the relationship between the helpers' families and their work. Qualitative analysis of three training groups of social workers who are responsible for helping in the event of terror attacks in different parts of Israel, and of three debriefing groups for social workers after terror attacks, reveals that the helpers' families play a role in the narratives constructed by the helpers. Two main themes were identified. The first centers on the interaction between work and the family, and shows that in the situation of a terror attack, the conflict between the two disappears and the family often serves as a support system for the helpers. The second theme refers to the family dimension alone, and focuses on the dichotomy between vitality and loss. The way that family life events affect helpers'professional intervention is described. The findings are discussed in light of Conservation of Resources Theory, the fight-flight response to threat, and the concept of the family as a source of safety and risk taking.     

Communication about DTC Testing: Commentary on a ‘Family Experience of Personal Genomics’

This paper provides a commentary on ‘Family Experience of Personal Genomics’ (Corpas 2012). An overview is offered on the communication literature available to help support individuals and families to communicate about genetic information. Despite there being a wealth of evidence, built on years of genetic counseling practice, this does not appear to have been translated clearly to the Direct to Consumer (DTC) testing market. In many countries it is possible to order a DTC genetic test without the involvement of any health professional; there has been heated debate about whether this is appropriate or not. Much of the focus surrounding this has been on whether it is necessary to have a health professional available to offer their clinical knowledge and help with interpreting the DTC genetic test data. What has been missed from this debate is the importance of enabling customers of DTC testing services access to the abundance of information about how to communicate their genetic risks to others, including immediate family. Family communication about health and indeed genetics can be fraught with difficulty. Genetic health professionals, specifically genetic counselors, have particular expertise in family communication about genetics. Such information could be incredibly useful to kinships as they grapple with knowing how to communicate their genomic information with relatives.     

Lateralization effects in the perception of Hebrew and English words

A series of four experiments was conducted on Israelis with a good knowledge of English, Anglo-Saxons with a good knowledge of Hebrew, and full Bilinguals of the two languages. In all experiments words were presented vertically and measurements of both accuracy and response times were taken. Experiments 1 and 2 examined the perception of Hebrew words in unilateral and bilateral conditions, respectively; Experiments 3 and 4 examined the perception of both Hebrew and English words in these two conditions. The results revealed right visual field advantage in the perception of words in both languages and in all groups. A reversal between the two conditions was not found. The data support the hypothesis whereby nonnative languages are less lateralized than native ones, but they indicate that full bilinguals are more, not less, lateralized than monolinguals. Various hypothesis regarding the relationship between lateralization and bilingualism are discussed.     

AMOS OZ’S A TALE OF LOVE AND DARKNESS WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF IMMIGRATION NARRATIVES IN MODERN HEBREW LITERATURE

Jewish immigration to Eretz Israel is one of the constitutive narratives of Israeli nationality. The Zionist enterprise cast immigration and assimilation in a positive light by using the Hebrew word aliyah to describe immigration to Israel, linked to the notion of people returning to their homeland. In reality, however, the immigration process was often diametrically opposed to the optimistic aliyah story. Most immigrants, once in Israel, found themselves to be outsiders, yearning for their lost homes, friends and culture, and unable to view the new land as their home.

Over the last few decades, Israeli scholars have begun to challenge the concepts underlying aliyah. In the wake of the ongoing debate on nationality, many prefer to replace the word aliyah with immigration, which suggests that Israel should accept a diversity of identities and cultures.

This article presents a new model to account for this. Following Homi Bhabha’s distinction between the pedagogical and the performative and the idea of heterotopy in Foucault’s writing, I demonstrate that narratives of immigration express dialectical relationships between a utopian pedagogical narrative of aliyah and a personal performative narrative of immigration. I illustrate these relationships through major narratives of modern Hebrew literature, and suggest that they are at the core of Oz’s novel A Tale of Love and Darkness.     

Understanding Families of Adults With Cancer: Combining the Clinical Course of Cancer and Stages of Family Development

Since the 1970s, counseling professionals have recommended that cancer be regarded as an illness that affects the entire family. This article combines research on understanding the impact of cancer on the family that relates both to the clinical course of cancer and to the developmental stages of the family system. The combination of these 2 dimensions provides counselors with a template for (a) understanding the current literature regarding cancer's impact on the family, (b) helping counselors formulate intervention strategies for the families of cancer patients, and (c) recognizing future directions for research regarding the needs of family members of cancer patients.     

A qualitative examination of the work–family interface: Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder

Within the work–family literature little is known about the work–family challenges and opportunities faced by families that have one or more children with autism spectrum disorder. However, it has been consistently demonstrated that parents of children with autism spectrum disorder are at a higher risk of experiencing a host of negative outcomes. Using a qualitative design, within grounded theory, the present study sheds light on the needs, experiences, and challenges that parents of children with autism spectrum disorder face and also offers insight into ways to expand the scope of work–family research in this area. The present research provides evidence of how the family domain can greatly impact experiences and decisions made in the work domain for families with special needs. The present research adds to the small but growing literature examining the interplay between home and work life for families with special needs and demonstrates that this is an important research domain in need of additional conceptual and empirical consideration.     

The ideological manipulation of Hebrew literature in English translation in the 1970s and 1980s

In the past two decades, the field of translation studies has increasingly focused on the role of ideology in literary translation and cross-cultural transfer. This paper presents findings from the close textual comparison of original works of Hebrew literature and their English translations published in the United States during the 1970s and 1980s. I specify translation strategies that have had ideological effects on the source texts, and demonstrate how historically or ethically charged subject matter was manipulated so as to subdue “problematic” aspects of the text for the (largely Jewish) target audience. The two major categories of manipulations had to do with the moral dimension of the portrayal of Israel and Israeli society, particularly in subject matter related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; and with the relationship between Israel and other nations, and between Israel and Diaspora Jews. As stressed by recent sociological studies of translation, the translations can be seen both as reflective of contemporary socio-political trends of thought, and as practices playing an unseen role in strengthening these trends.     

Marital Quality, Family Patterns, and Children's Fears and Social Anxiety

This study examined relationships among marital quality, family patterns, and children's fears, and social anxiety. Two types of family patterns were studied, adaptability and cohesion. Mothers of children aged 5–6, drawn from kindergartens in northern Israel, completed Hebrew versions of the ENRICH scale (abridged, for marital quality), FACES-III (adaptability and cohesion), the FSSC-R (fears), and the SASC-R (social anxiety). Family cohesion was negatively correlated with marital quality and positively correlated with children's social anxiety. Marital quality and family adaptability were inversely related to specific children's fears. Children's social anxiety was highly correlated with specific fears. These findings suggest that children from rigid, fused families or low quality marriages may be at risk for high levels of fears and social anxiety.     

Family size and delinquency

A review of the literature shows that large family size is related to greater delinquency. The relationship remains when a number of variables, i.e., income, socioeconomic status, parental criminality, and family composition, have been controlled. The higher birth rate for lower classes does not appear to be an adequate explanation for this relationship, nor does less close parent-child affectional ties or less parental supervision although all of these may have some influence. The presence of an "infectious example" may partly account for the relationship, as does overcrowding. Large family size is typically associated with the constellation of undesirable family conditions involving poor role models (e.g., poor parental behaviour, parental criminality, sibling delinquency), poor child-rearing practices (e.g., inadequate parental supervision and discipline), and competition for physical (e.g., overcrowding, low income) and psychological (e.g., lack of attention, affection, family interaction) resources. An immediate solution is to reduce the size of families by helping prospective parents plan their families, and for those who wish it, making medical abortions more readily available. The long-range solution is through research to identify variables which significantly influence the relationship between family size and delinquency. Such studies must control for birth order, sibling spacing, siblings' sex, and sex of the delinquents in these families.     

ORTHOGRAPHIC REPRESENTATION AND PHONEMIC SEGMENTATION IN SKILLED READERS:

Abstract— The long-lasting effect of reading experience in Hebrew and English on phonemic segmentation was examined in skilled readers Hebrew and English orthographies differ in the way they represent phonological information Whereas each phoneme in English is represented by a discrete letter, in un-pointed Hebrew most of the vowel information is not conveyed by the print, and, therefore, a letter often corresponds to a CV utterance (i. e., a consonant plus a vowel) Adult native speakers of Hebrew or English, presented with words consisting of a consonant, a vowel, and then another consonant, were require to delete the first "sound" of each word and to pronounce the remaining utterance as fast as possible Hebrew speakers deleted the initial CV segment instead of the initial consonant more often than English speakers, for both Hebrew and English words Moreover, Hebrew speakers were significantly slower than English speakers in correctly deleting the initial phoneme, and faster in deleting the whole syllable. These results suggest that the manner in which orthography represents phonology not only affects phonological awareness during reading acquisition, but also has a long-lasting effect on skilled readers' intuitions concerning the phonological structure of their spoken language.     

Parent-offspring conflict theory: an evolutionary framework for understanding conflict within human families

Decades of research demonstrate that conflict shapes and permeates a broad range of family processes. In the current article, we argue that greater insight, integration of knowledge, and empirical achievement in the study of family conflict can be realized by utilizing a powerful theory from evolutionary biology that is barely known within psychology: parent-offspring conflict theory (POCT). In the current article, we articulate POCT for psychological scientists, extend its scope by connecting it to the broader framework of life history theory, and draw out its implications for understanding conflict within human families. We specifically apply POCT to 2 instances of early mother-offspring interaction (prenatal conflict and weaning conflict); discuss the effects of genetic relatedness on behavioral conflict between parents, children, and their siblings; review the emerging literature on parent-offspring conflict over the choice of mates and spouses; and examine parent-offspring conflict from the perspective of imprinted genes. This review demonstrates the utility of POCT, not only for explaining what is known about conflict within families but also for generating novel hypotheses, suggesting new lines of research, and moving us toward the "big picture" by integrating across biological and psychological domains of knowledge.     

Morphological family size in a morphologically rich language: the case of Finnish compared with Dutch and Hebrew

Finnish has a very productive morphology in which a stem can give rise to several thousand words. This study presents a visual lexical decision experiment addressing the processing consequences of the huge productivity of Finnish morphology. The authors observed that in Finnish words with larger morphological families elicited shorter response latencies. However, in contrast to Dutch and Hebrew, it is not the complete morphological family of a complex Finnish word that codetermines response latencies but only the subset of words directly derived from the complex word itself. Comparisons with parallel experiments using translation equivalents in Dutch and Hebrew showed substantial cross-language predictivity of family size between Finnish and Dutch but not between Finnish and Hebrew, reflecting the different ways in which the Hebrew and Finnish morphological systems contribute to the semantic organization of concepts in the mental lexicon.     

Modeling Mind and Matter: Reductionism and Psychological Measurement in Cognitive Neuroscience

Psychological resilience has become a popular concept. Owing to that popularity, the word resilience has taken on myriad and often overlapping meanings. To be a useful framework for psychological research and theory, the authors argue, the study of resilience must explicitly reference each of four constituent temporal elements: (a) baseline or preadversity functioning, (b) the actual aversive circumstances, (c) postadversity resilient outcomes, and (d) predictors of resilient outcomes. Using this framework to review the existing literature, the most complete body of evidence is available on individual psychological resilience in children and adults. By contrast, the research on psychological resilience in families and communities is far more limited and lags well behind the rich theoretical perspective available from those literatures. The vast majority of research on resilience in families and communities has focused primarily on only one temporal element, possible predictors of resilient outcomes. Surprisingly, however, almost no scientific evidence is actually available for community or family resilient outcomes. We close by suggesting that there is room for optimism and that existing methods and measures could be relatively easily adapted to help fill these gaps. To that end, we propose a series of steps to guide future research.