This paper tells a story of Israeli male high schoolers who spend their adolescent years preparing for service in elite military units in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). They dream of serving in special units and begin training at 15 or 16 years old. After years of taxing preparations, at the age of 17 they arrive at the grueling military exams.…

Informed by a perspective centred on psychological health and well-being, the present research investigated whether teachers' overall well-being was influenced by their affect balance, as well as the extent to which both affect and well-being are influenced by social capital, in conflict-ridden areas such as the occupied Palestinian Territories…

This study investigated the effect of a school-based and teacher-led psychosocial intervention that targeted academic underachievement among conflict-affected youths. We hypothesized that participants in the intervention would experience improved school functioning and reduced levels of stress-related symptoms after the intervention, in comparison…

Adolescence is a period of dramatic change that necessitates using skills and strengths to reduce physical aggression and increase happiness. This study examined the multiple facets of self-control skills in achieving both goals simultaneously, in a sample of 248 Arab adolescents in Israel. We conceptualized and tested a new multi-mediator model…

Aim/Purpose: Following the widespread use of social networking applications (SNAs) by children, adolescents, and young adults, this paper sought to examine the usage habits, sharing, and dangers involved from the perspective of the children, adolescents, and young adults. The research question was: What are the usage habits, sharing, drawbacks,…

This paper aims to explore how Palestinian Arab and Jewish university students in Israel, attending a course on conflict resolution, deal with their stereotypical views of the Other and their prejudices, as well as their complex emotions of fear, hate, anxiety, and love during a period of tension and violence. On the one hand, they have a natural…

The authors were invited to teach clinical social work in the Palestinian West Bank. In order to teach, we designed a study exploring how 65 Palestinian social work students described the psychological and social effects of working under occupation. Students described social stressors of poverty, unemployment, lack of infrastructure, violence,…

Employing the salutogenic approach (Antonovsky, 1987), this pilot study aimed at exploring the mediation effect of Sense of Coherence (SOC) on the relationships between exposure to missile attacks and stress-related reactions among adolescents. A strong SOC means a tendency to see the world as more comprehensible, manageable and meaningful. Data…

This article describes and analyzes the relationship disenchantment of couplehood among female survivors of violence and their family-of-origin experiences of abuse. Twenty Israeli women who were survivors of violence participated in this qualitative research. Each woman underwent three in-depth interviews, two for data collection and one for…

This study aimed to explore measures of spirituality--sense of coherence (SOC), hope and values--among adolescents living in a violent political area and experiencing missile attacks. The three variables represent attributes of spirituality, such as searching for meaning and purpose in life, hope and feelings about the future, as well as values…

The objectives of this research were to assess the attitudes toward dating violence among Jewish and Arab male and female adolescents in Israel. The random sample consisted of 1,357 participants from among 9th to 12th grade pupils enrolled in eight Arab and eight Jewish junior and senior high schools. The study assessed attitudes toward…

This paper explores the impact of violent conflict on undergraduate students. In order to strengthen student resilience during periods of heightened insecurity, teachers and institutions must identify the difficulties that their students may be experiencing. Based on a case study of students in Israel, this paper identifies specific difficulties…

Drawing on the importance of future orientation for adolescent development this analysis presents a model describing how future orientation is affected by high challenge (or resilience) in the face of political violence. The analysis consists of three parts. The first two present future orientation conceptualization and the psychological processes…

International Child Development Initiatives (ICDI) is a Dutch non-profit organization with a world-wide brief, and a focus on transitional and developing countries. ICDI promotes the well-being of children growing up in difficult circumstances. As a result of the global recession, 2009 was a challenging year for many organizations working in the…

It is commonly assumed that exposure to terrorism may lead to violent behavior, but there is little empirical research on the relationship between these two variables. In the present paper, we examined the extent to which exposure to terrorism contributes to violent behavior among adolescents. In addition, we considered the role of environmental…