The role of religious orientations in youth's posttraumatic symptoms after exposure to terror

Higher Residence Attachment and Religiosity Are Associated With Less Depressive Symptoms After Terror Event Exposure

Introduction: We examined how community type, residence attachment, and religiosity contribute to resilience to depressive symptoms, psychosomatic complaints, residential stress, and avoidance behavior among students exposed to terror.

Methods: Undergraduate students from Ariel University (N = 1,413; 62.7% females; M_age = 26.5; SD = 6.03) completed a self-report questionnaire on socio-demographics, terror exposure, place attachment, and depressive/psychosomatic symptoms. Participants were divided into three residential groups: “Ariel,” “Small settlement communities in Judea and Samaria” or “Other places in Israel.”

Results: Participants from small settlement communities in Judea and Samaria showed significantly fewer depressive symptoms and greater adjustment– less avoidance, psychosomatic symptoms, and residential stress– compared to those living in Ariel or other places in Israel, despite significantly higher exposure to terror.

Conclusion: Greater religiosity and residence attachment may protect against depressive symptom development following terror exposure. Secular, temporary residents living in highly terror-exposed areas should be targeted for community strengthening interventions.

Religiosity: Protective or Risk Factor for Posttraumatic Distress Among Adolescents Who Were Exposed to Different Types of Acts of Political Violence

This study examined the potential moderating effects of religiosity on the associations between exposure to acts of political violence and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTS) among Jewish adolescents in Israel. In addition, it examined whether self-reported physical and interpersonal exposure to acts of political violence predicts PTS symptoms beyond the objective exposure effects (i.e., the proximity of participants' place of residence to high-, moderate-, or low-intensity political violence). A representative sample of 2,992 Jewish high school students (Grades 10 and 11) was taken. We used self-reporting to measure the level of religiosity and the Impact of Events Scale-Revised (IES-R) to measure PTS symptoms. Results show that self-reported exposure to acts of political violence adds a significant additional amount of variance to the prediction of PTS symptoms after objective exposure is already included in the regression equation. Religiosity was found as a risk factor for PTS symptoms such that the greater the religiosity of the adolescents, the higher their PTS symptoms. Therefore, prevention interventions should target the vulnerable group of religious Jewish adolescents.

Youth in Northern Ireland: Linking Violence Exposure, Emotional Insecurity, and the Political Macrosystem

Growing up in the aftermath of armed conflict puts youth at a higher risk for psychopathology—particularly in societies like Northern Ireland which continue to be characterized by intergroup tension and cyclical violence. This risk may be heightened during adolescence, when youth are beginning to explore their identities and are becoming more aware of intergroup dynamics in both their immediate communities and the broader society. It is also during this stage when youth increasingly witness or engage in antisocial behavior and sectarian activities. A series of studies in Belfast conducted by Cummings et al. (2014, Child Dev Perspect, 12(1), 16–38; 2019, J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol, 48(2), 296–305) showed that adolescents’ exposure to sectarian violence resulted in heightened emotional insecurity about the community and subsequent adjustment problems. Though the impact of direct exposure to violence is well documented, few studies have accounted for the influence of sectarianism that occurs outside of one's immediate environment. These influences may include the general climate surrounding events that are not experienced firsthand but are nonetheless salient, such as the overarching levels of tension between groups or societal discourse that is threatening to one's identity. These higher‐level influences, often referred to collectively as the macrosystem, are a necessary component to consider for adequately assessing one's socio‐developmental environment. Yet, measurement at this level of the social ecology has proven elusive in past work. The current study advances research in this area by using newspaper coding as a method of measuring the political macrosystem in Northern Ireland and assessing whether a tense or threatening climate serves as an added risk factor for youth living in Belfast.

In the current study, we measured sectarian violence at the level of the macrosystem by systematically collecting and coding newspaper articles from Northern Ireland that were published between 2006 and 2011 (N = 2,797). Each article was coded according to its level of overall political tension between Catholics and Protestants, threat to Catholics, and threat to Protestants. When aggregated, these assessments reflected the overarching trends in Catholic–Protestant relations during this period. In order to assess the association between these sociopolitical trends and the direct experiences of adolescents, the newspaper coding was linked with five waves of survey data from families (N = 999) in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas of Belfast. Using a series of multilevel moderation analyses, we then tested whether intergroup tension and ingroup threat moderated the relation between adolescents’ direct exposure to violence and their emotional insecurity. These analyses were followed by a thematic analysis of the coded newspaper articles in order to provide further context to the findings.

The results indicated that adolescents’ response to direct exposure to sectarian violence varied based on the political climate at the time of their interview. Overall, the adolescents’ emotional insecurity about the community increased with exposure to sectarian violence. During periods when the sociopolitical climate was characterized by high levels of intergroup political tension, this relation was slightly weaker—regardless of the adolescents’ ingroup (i.e., Protestant vs. Catholic). During periods when the sociopolitical climate was coded as threatening, this relation was weaker for Catholic adolescents. That is, high levels of macro‐level threat—particularly events coded as threatening for Protestants—seemed to be a protective factor for Catholic adolescents. Group differences were also found based on the adolescents’ cumulative amount of exposure to sectarian violence. As threat in the macrosystem increased, Catholic adolescents who were directly exposed to higher than average levels of sectarian violence became more emotionally secure, while Catholics with little to no exposure to violence became more insecure. Contrastingly, Protestant adolescents directly exposed to higher than average levels of sectarian violence were more insecure than Protestants with little to no violence exposure.

A thematic analysis of the newspaper articles revealed the categories of events that were viewed by coders as politically tense and threatening. Five primary themes emerged: ineffective policing and justice, family and community unrest, memories of violence, destabilized leadership, and organized paramilitary activity. Many of the articles coded as most threatening reported on a spike in attacks organized by dissident republican groups—that is, members of the Catholic community with, particularly hardline views. This may be pertinent to the finding that associations between sectarian violence exposure and emotional insecurity were exacerbated during this time for Protestants but not for Catholics. Findings from the thematic analysis provide a deeper examination of the context of events taking place during the study period, as well as their potential bearing on interpretation of the macro‐level effects.

In conclusion, these findings illustrate how one's response to the immediate environment can vary based on shifts in the political macrosystem. The current study thus contributes conceptually, empirically, and methodologically to the understanding of process relations between multiple levels of the social ecology and adolescent functioning. These results may further inform the design of future interventions and policies meant to lessen the impact of political violence. The methods used here may also be useful for the study of other contexts in which macrosystem effects are likely to have a salient impact on individual wellbeing.

Marital Adjustment and Its Relationship with Religious Orientations Among Iranian Infertile and Fertile Women: A Cross-Sectional Study

This study aimed to determine the status of marital adjustment and its relationship with religious orientations in fertile and infertile women. This study was conducted on 160 infertile and 320 fertile Muslim Iranian women. There was significant difference in terms of marital adjustment in two groups. There was significant relationship between marital adjustments with intrinsic religious orientation in two groups; however, there was no significant relationship between marital adjustments with extrinsic religious orientation. The results suggest that intrinsic religious orientation is likely to increase marital adjustment in fertile and infertile women. However, further studies should be performed to assess the association of religious orientations with marital adjustment in other communities and religions.

Early effect of the fear of terrorism on a hospital's emergency department use and on the incidence of cardiovascular events: A Turkish multicenter study

BACKGROUND

To our knowledge, the early effect of the fear caused by terrorism on human health, especially its effect on the number of visits to medical emergency departments (EDs), has not yet been studied.

OBJECTIVES

To observe the effect of fear from terrorist alerts on the use of EDs and on the rate of cardiovascular (CV) and/or cerebrovascular events.

SETTING

In Istanbul, Turkey, there was a terror alert on the weekend of 19 and 20 March 2016. In this multicenter retrospective study, we compared the data of patients from that weekend with those from the preceding and following weekends.

PATIENTS

A total of 12 324 adult patients' records were included in this study: 4562 patients in the first weekend, 3627 patients in the second, terror alert weekend, and 4135 patients in the third weekend.

MEASUREMENTS

The ED, CV, and cerebrovascular incidence rates of the above three groups were compared.

RESULTS

The rate of ED use was the least in the weekend of the terror alert; the highest rate occurred during the weekend prior to it (female applications decreased more [P = 0.03]). The medical center that was the farthest from the crowded central places of the city and from the place where suicide bombing occurred was less affected by the decrease in use.

CONCLUSIONS

Fear associated with terrorism may affect human health indirectly by preventing patients from reaching the necessary emergency healthcare facilities. This finding may be a pathfinder to decision-makers in such extraordinary emergency conditions. Further studies are needed in this field.

Religious Fundamentalism, Satisfaction with Life and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms Intensity in a Polish Sample of People Living with HIV/AIDS

We investigated the relationship between religious fundamentalism, satisfaction with life and the intensity of posttraumatic stress symptoms in people living with HIV/AIDS. The study was conducted on 283 adults, including 242 HIV-positive patients and 41 individuals with AIDS, aged from 20 to 74. Religious fundamentalism was positively correlated with age and posttraumatic stress symptoms intensity. Negative correlation between satisfaction with life and posttraumatic stress intensity was also found. Religious fundamentalism and satisfaction with life accounted for 34% of the variance in posttraumatic stress symptoms intensity. The level of patients' education mediated the relationship between religious fundamentalism and the posttraumatic stress symptoms intensity.

Intolerance of uncertainty moderates the relations among religiosity and motives for religion, depression, and social evaluation fears

OBJECTIVES

Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) underlies several psychological disorders, and religion may help some individuals cope with IU and/or protect against psychological symptoms. It was hypothesized that IU would moderate the relations between coping motives for being religious, as well as religiosity, and common psychological disorder symptoms: Depression and social evaluation fears.

METHODS

Study 1 included 473 self-reporting community members (M _age  = 48, 48% female, 80% Protestant/Catholic). Study 2 included 412 self-reporting undergraduates ( M _age  = 19, 71% female, 76% Protestant/Catholic).

RESULTS

For Study 1, coping-based motives related to greater depression for young adults with above-average IU and to lower depression for young adults with below-average IU. For Study 2, religiosity related to lower depression and fear of negative evaluation for individuals with above-average IU and to greater fear of positive evaluation for individuals with below-average IU.

CONCLUSION

IU may be an important mechanism between aspects of religion and psychological disorder symptoms.

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 designed 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.

Elaboration on posttraumatic growth in youth exposed to terror: the role of religiosity and political ideology

OBJECTIVES

This study aims to examine competing explanations of the relationship between religious and political ideology commitment with posttraumatic growth.

METHOD

Subjects were Israeli youth who were exposed to terror (n = 2,999) aged 13-15. Measures included: posttraumatic growth inventory, religious orientation, ideological commitment, objective and subjective exposure to terror.

RESULTS

Both religiosity and political ideology mediated the effects of exposure and fear on growth. Political ideology but not religiosity, had a moderating effect, such that subjective fear was positively associated with growth only among those with stronger ideologies.

CONCLUSION

Results support the contention of Terror Management Theory that cultural beliefs have beneficial effects on well being in the face of adversity and emphasize the role of cultural world as effecting growth, beyond trauma.