An Ecological Approach to Explaining Women’s Adjustment in the Initial Stage of Marriage

In this study, we focused on marital adjustment among a sample of 101 Israeli women who had been married up to 3 years and did not have children. We examined the contribution of variables from three ecological systems to marital adjustment: the ontogenic system (attachment dimensions, and women’s perceptions of differentiation in the family of origin); the microsystem (strategies for resolving marital conflicts); and the exosystem (characteristics of the husband’s employment). The findings revealed that the higher the women’s levels in the two dimensions of attachment, the lower their levels of marital adjustment. By contrast, the more the women used conflict resolution strategies of integration, concession, and compromise, the higher their levels of marital adjustment. Conflict resolution strategies mediated the effects of attachment avoidance and family differentiation on marital adjustment. To conclude, we offer practical recommendations for identifying couples at risk in the first stage of marital life, and for professional interventions to improve marital adjustment at that stage.     

Perceptions of conjugal relations among Israeli males: Pre-retirement versus early and late retirement phases

Attitudes of Israeli males toward conjugal life in preretirement versus the early and late phases of retirement were studied. Several differences appear between pre-retired and retired males, particularly in the late retirement phase. Compared with the pre-retired, late phase retirees expressed more conservative attitudes toward gender roles, increased emotional commitment toward the wife, greater expected dependence on the wife, a decline in health resources, and a greater power advantage in social aspects of conjugal life. Practical suggestions for family therapists dealing with couples in the later stages of married life include being aware of the differences between the stages of retirement and their effect on marital dynamics, giving particular attention to the effects of the increasingly conservative tendencies of the retired male and his anticipated power advantage in the social aspects of marriage on conjugal dynamics, and capitalizing on the increased emotional commitment of the male partner toward his wife in the later phase of retirement.Research interests include women at work and gender roles in the family.This article is a partial report of the findings presented in a doctoral dissertation written at Bar Ilan University under the supervision of Dr. H. Bareli and Dr. M. Katz.     

No Place Like Home? Potential Pathways to Loneliness in Older Adults Under the Care of a Live-In Foreign Home Care Worker

The arrangement in which frail older adults from the developed world are cared for in their homes by individuals from the developing world has become increasingly prevalent worldwide. In Israel, this arrangement is termed foreign home care. In this article, the authors first describe the global phenomenon of foreign home care of frail older adults as well as the more local characteristics of this arrangement in Israel. The authors then describe the concept of loneliness. Based on empirical and theoretical knowledge in the field of loneliness, the authors argue that older adults under live-in foreign home care may be particularly prone to feelings of loneliness for several reasons: some that are general to older adults with cognitive or physical disability and others that are specific to this particular caregiving arrangement. The authors conclude by providing ideas for future practice and research on this highly vulnerable group that, to date, has received only minimal research attention.     

Post-Traumatic Stress and World Assumptions: The Effects of Religious Coping

Religiosity has been shown to moderate the negative effects of traumatic event experiences. The current study was deigned to examine the relationship between post-traumatic stress (PTS) following traumatic event exposure; world assumptions defined as basic cognitive schemas regarding the world; and self and religious coping conceptualized as drawing on religious beliefs and practices for understanding and dealing with life stressors. This study examined 777 Israeli undergraduate students who completed several questionnaires which sampled individual world assumptions and religious coping in addition to measuring PTS, as manifested by the PTSD check list. Results indicate that positive religious coping was significantly associated with more positive world assumptions, while negative religious coping was significantly associated with more negative world assumptions. Additionally, negative world assumptions were significantly associated with more avoidance symptoms, while reporting higher rates of traumatic event exposure was significantly associated with more hyper-arousal. These findings suggest that religious-related cognitive schemas directly affect world assumptions by creating protective shields that may prevent the negative effects of confronting an extreme negative experience.     

Links Between Stress, Positive and Negative Affect, and Life Satisfaction Among Teachers in Special Education Schools

This study focused on links between stress, positive and negative affect, and life satisfaction among teachers in special education schools. Teaching is a highly stressful profession, characterized by high rate of stress, burnout, and dropout. The study investigated: (a) whether teachers can maintain their positive affect and life satisfaction despite the stress they experience, and (b) the resources that may elicit positive affect and life satisfaction, including self-control as a personal skill and perceived organizational support (by peers, therapeutic staff, and manager) as an environmental resource. Participants were 125 teachers from 12 different special education schools. As expected, a positive link emerged between high stress levels and negative affect. Both self-control and organizational social support contributed to the explanation of positive affect and life satisfaction. Organizational support was found to moderate the link between stress and negative affect as well as the link between stress and positive affect and life satisfaction among teachers. The outcomes contributed both to the theoretical explanation about the role of resources in eliciting subjective well-being, happiness, and life satisfaction and also to the way teachers can be helped in daily coping with their difficulties.     

Women's Experiences With Volunteering: A Comparative Analysis by Stages of the Life Cycle

The author conducted a cross‐sectional study on experiences with and resources for volunteering among 201 Israeli women at 4 life stages: adolescence, young adulthood, middle age, and late adulthood. The experiences examined were positive responses (satisfaction with volunteering; perceived contribution to others), and negative responses (burnout; difficulties with the provider organization and beneficiaries; sense of sacrifice). The resources examined were family support for volunteer activity and empowerment in volunteering. Women in the oldest group reported greater satisfaction and empowerment than did the adolescents, whereas perceived contribution to others was stronger among the adolescents than among women in the other age groups. Differences were found between the women in the oldest and youngest groups with respect to difficulties in volunteering.     

Giving from a distance: Putting the charitable organization at the center of the donation appeal

Past research has shown repeatedly that people prefer donating to a single identified human victim rather than to unidentified or abstract donation targets. In the current research we show results countering the identifiable victim effect, wherein people prefer to donate to charitable organizations rather than to an identifiable victim. In a series of five studies, we manipulate temporal and social distance, examine a variety of donation targets, and measure intention to donate time or money as well as actual donations of money. We show that people are more willing to donate to a charitable organization when they are temporally or socially distant from the population in need. Willingness to donate to a specific person in need is higher when donors are temporally or socially close to the donation target. Furthermore, we demonstrate that (a) empathy mediates donations to a single victim, yet does not mediate donations to charitable organizations; (b) that donation giving to charitable organizations is unique and is not similar to donations to a group of victims. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Suppressing and Priming the Motivation for Motherhood

In study 1, 148 married and unmarried childless Israeli women (mean age?=?25) indicated how often they think about having a child, their desired age for having a child, and justified not being mothers, with or without being primed with photographs of babies. Priming and marital status impacted the motivation for motherhood and the justifications for not being mothers. In study 2, the same procedure was used with 137 unmarried, childless Israeli women (mean age?=?24) whose gender role orientation was assessed. The impact of gender role orientation and priming on the motivation for motherhood and the justifications for not being mothers were complex, with femininity playing a much greater role than masculinity. The findings were discussed in the context of the myth of motherhood and its influence on the lives of women.     

Retracted: The Indirect Relationship Between Learning Climate and Employees’ Creativity and Adaptivity: The Role of Employee Engagement

This study examines the indirect relationship between learning climate and employees’ creativity and adaptivity. Utilizing multi‐level modeling analysis techniques and data from a sample of 625 employees from 12 different organizations in Israel, we tested the proposed relationship as mediated by employee engagement and moderated by sector of employment (business versus public). Results were generally consistent with the hypothesized conceptual model in that we found the indirect relationship between learning climate and employees’ creativity and adaptivity to be mediated by employee engagement. In addition, we found that this mediation through engagement is moderated by sector of employment. We conclude that the relationship between learning climate and employee performance behaviors is more complex than previously argued in the learning climate literature. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved