Postwar Recovery to Stress Symptoms Ratio as a Measure of Resilience,Individual Characteristics,Sense of Danger,and Age

This study maintains that postwar resilience should be defined by the proportion of recovery from war adversity and level of postwar symptoms. We hypothesize first that four resilience-promoting factors will predict this measure of resilience. Second, these associations will be mediated by sense of postwar danger. Third, war-afflicted older people will be comparable to younger people on these variables. The sample included 829 Israeli adults who experienced the 2006 second Lebanon war. Results that have generally supported these hypotheses have been discussed in terms of the definition of resilience, the role of sense of danger in postwar adjustment, and the resilience of older people to war.     

Moral Dilemma in the War against Terror: Political Attitudes and Regular Versus Reserve Military Service

The current study examines moral dilemmas related to the war against terror: the amounts of force used to arrest or harm a “most wanted” terrorist: the greater the use of force, the higher the risk for harming civilians and the lower the risk to the soldiers and vice versa. The study focuses on the association between moral decisions, confidence, and level of difficulty in making the decisions and political attitudes among Israeli Defense Forces soldiers. In addition, the study examines the differences between regular (202) and reserve (144) combat infantry soldiers regarding these variables. According to study hypotheses results indicate (a) more right-wing political attitudes predicted greater use of force and fewer difficulties in making moral decisions, and (b) reserve soldiers reported higher use of fire, higher confidence, and lower level of difficulty in making moral decisions compared with regular soldiers.     

Optimism as a predictor of the effects of laboratory‐induced stress on fears and hope

The objective of the current study is to explore optimism as a predictor of personal and collective fear, as well as hope, following laboratory‐induced stress. Students (N = 107; 74 female, 33 male) were assigned randomly to either the experimental (stress—political violence video clip) or the control group (no‐stress—nature video clip). Questionnaires of fear and hope were administered immediately after the experiment (Time 1) and 3 weeks later (Time 2). Structural equation modeling indicated the following: (a) Optimism significantly predicted both fear and hope in the stress group at Time 1, but not in the no‐stress group. (b) Optimism predicted hope but not fear at Time 2 in the stress group. (c) Hope at Time 1 significantly predicted hope at Time 2, in both the stress and the no‐stress groups. (d) Gender did not predict significantly fear at Time 1 in the stress group, despite a significant difference between genders. This study supports previous studies indicating that optimism plays an important role in people's coping with stress. However, based on our research the data raise the question of whether optimism, by itself, or environmental stress, by itself, may accurately predict stress response.     

Getting a Life: Gender Differences in Postwar Recovery

This study examined gender differences in stress symptoms and recovery one year after the end of war, among two Israeli samples (adults n?=?870 and adolescents n?=?810). MANOVA analysis indicated that females reported higher levels of stress symptoms and lower levels of postwar recovery compared to males. Adolescents reported lower levels of stress and higher levels of recovery compared to adults. Path analysis supported the following: Gender associated negatively with family support and sense of danger. Sense of danger associated positively with symptoms and negatively with recovery, while family support associated with these variables in the opposite direction. Mediation test indicated that family support and sense of danger served as mediators between gender and recovery and between gender and stress symptoms.     

Moral Dilemmas in Military Situations: Proportionality Principle,Religiosity, Political Attitudes,and Authoritarian Personality

The current study focuses on a moral dilemma in military situations: the amount of force to be used in order to neutralize a “most wanted” terrorist. This study examines the association between this moral dilemma with 4 independent variables: agreement with the proportionality principle (mediating variable), level of religiosity, authoritarian personality, and political attitudes. Three equal groups of participants (together, N = 357) were included: Israeli regular army combat soldiers, Israeli reserve combat soldiers, and Israeli students. In accordance with the study hypotheses, the 4 independent variables significantly correlated with each other and with moral decisions. Structural equation modeling indicated that agreement with the proportionality principle is the best predictor of moral decision, and mediated the association between level of religiosity and political attitudes and moral decisions.     

Predictors of individual,community and national resiliencies of Israeli Jews and Arabs

The contribution of individual characteristics to predicting individual, community and national resilience of Israeli Jews and Arabs was investigated. Psychological resilience refers to people's assessment of their ability to withstand negative psychological consequences of major afflictions, and to keep functioning despite these adversities. The following hypotheses were examined: 1. The Jewish sample would score higher than the Arab sample on indices of individual, community and national resilience. 2. Men of both groups would score higher compared with women on these resilience indices. 3. Exposure to terror and fear of upcoming war would negatively predict the resilience of both groups. 4. Higher level of religiosity, right wing political attitudes, higher income, higher education, older age and higher sense of coherence will positively predict the investigated resiliencies. The random sample included 1100 Jews and 350 Arabs who participated in an internet survey. Resilience was defined in this study as the balance of individual, community and national strength (protective factors) to vulnerability (risk factors). The results supported the first three hypotheses whereas the fourth hypothesis was supported only for the Jewish sample. The present study indicated that some predictors had universal effect on resilience, whereas others seemed to be culture specific predictors.     

Individual,Community, and National Resilience in Peace Time and in the Face of Terror: A Longitudinal Study

The present paper is based on thrice-repeated measures. The sample constituted 561 Jewish Israeli adults who experienced these terror attacks. The study examined individual, community and national resilience and their associations with resilience-promoting factors (sense of coherence, social support, and self-efficacy); as well as resilience-suppressing factors (distress symptoms, sense of danger, and exposure). Results indicated that resilience scores were quite stable across the three repeated measures, whereas sense of coherence, distress symptoms, sense of danger, and exposure significantly changed across the three repeated measures. Sense of coherence was the best predictor for individual, community, and national resilience.     

Perceived Change of Values and Intention to Return Among Kibbutz People Who Emigrated From Israel

We examined perceived changes of values and intentions to return to Israel among 149 Kibbutz people who had lived for 3 or more years in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. In answering standardized attitude questionnaires, participants reported significantly less general agreement today with Kibbutz values, but more support for the idea that Israel should compromise on occupied territories and more support for the idea that people should live where they choose. Political opinions also moved toward more liberal attitudes. Most participants intended to return to Israel without specifying a clear time frame. Values were significantly associated with behavioral intentions, with those endorsing Zionist values the most likely to report that they would return to Israel in times of war or peace. Results suggested acculturation to American society and political opinions.     

Sense of Coherence and Gender as a Predictor of the Effect of Laboratory Induced Stress on Cognitive Performance

ABSTRACT. The current experimental study examined sense of coherence (SOC) as a predictor of the effect of induced stress (time limit and posing a threat) on the level of overall cognitive performance (based on three subscales: mathematics, shapes, and analogies). Results indicated the following: (a) induced stress (experimental group, n = 80) scored lower on the overall cognitive score, compared to the no-stress (control group, n = 81); (b) subjects in the stress group with higher SOC performed better on the overall cognitive score, compared to subjects with lower SOC; however, in the no-stress group there was no significant effect of SOC on cognitive performance; (c) females performed lower on the overall cognitive performance, compared to males regardless of type of group; and (d) SOC predicted equally for males and females overall cognitive performance.