Youth Exposed to Terrorism: the Moderating Role of Ideology

Previous trauma exposure and self-mastery as moderators of psychiatric effects of home isolation during the Covid-19 pandemic: a field study

BACKGROUND

Limiting contagion during the Covid-19 pandemic has necessitated employment of drastic measures ranging from complete lockdown to home isolation and quarantines. This study examined the psychiatric effects of home isolation, the effects of interacting previous traumatic events and the moderating effect of self-mastery as a resilience factor that could mitigate negative effects.

METHODS

Six hundred forty-five adults aged 18-67 completed an online survey during the first wave lockdown during the Covid-19 outbreak in Israel. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire including measures of strictness of adherence to home isolation, a traumatic life events measure, the Mastery Scale, and the Brief Symptom Inventory. Data was analyzed using Structural Equation Model.

RESULTS

Findings showed positive relations between strictness of home isolation adherence and psychiatric symptoms, and between previous trauma exposure and psychiatric symptoms. A negative relation between self-mastery and psychiatric symptoms emerged. During home isolation, effects of previous trauma exposure on psychiatric symptoms was moderated by self-mastery. Individuals with high self-mastery showed less psychiatric symptoms than those with low self-mastery, at both high and low levels of previous trauma exposure.

CONCLUSIONS

Home isolation adherence is associated with significant psychological distress and symptomatology and, thus, should be of great concern for public mental health service providers. The present study offers a new slant on appropriate clinical interventions during this period with a focus on strengthening resilience factors that can moderate mental health decline. Therapy and interventions based on promoting self-mastery could exert a significant effect on lowering psychiatric symptoms during stressful periods of home isolation.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Not relevant.

Children's Reactions to War, Armed Conflict and Displacement: Resilience in a Social Climate of Support

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

The aim of this review was to unravel recent evidence for children's reactions to war and armed conflict focusing on resilience factors mitigating adverse psychological and psychiatric consequences.

RECENT FINDINGS

Three categories of mitigating resilience factors emerged from the literature - personal, family, and community factors. In addition, a unifying model of moderating resilience factors emerged, proposing a higher-tier environmental dimension conceptualized here as social climate of support. Wars and armed conflict affect children both by direct exposure to threats, and by disruption of the social fabric supporting development. The notion of producing a climate of social support can direct policy toward service provision and resilience-based programs that both build individual capacities and encompass development of the resources of families, schools, community, and societal structures supportive of children's adjustment and wellbeing. Future research should shift toward systems thinking within a socio-ecological nesting of individual, familial, community, and societal systems.

Terrorism Media Effects in Youth Exposed to Chronic Threat and Conflict in Israel

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

This paper reviews the extant research on the effects of contact with terrorism media coverage on psychological outcomes in youth in the context of chronic threat and conflict in Israel.

RECENT FINDINGS

The extant research is inconclusive with respect to the relationship between media contact and a variety of psychological outcomes in Israeli studies of youth exposed to ongoing threat and repeated terrorist attacks. Additional research is needed to examine potential differences in outcomes and the factors that influence youth coping and adaptation in an environment of chronic threat and extensive media coverage. Moreover, studies are needed to identify and evaluate potential parental, professional, and social strategies to enhance youth adjustment. Because political conflict in Israel is not likely to abate in the near future, the setting is ideal to conduct methodologically rigorous research including research using representative samples, prospective reporting, and longitudinal design.

Narrating hope and resistance: A critical analysis of sources of agency among Palestinian children living under military violence

BACKGROUND

In light of critical and socioconstructionist theories, the aim of our research was to analyze source of agency, psychological adjustment to trauma as protective factors against political violence in children living in three different refugee camps in Palestine, as well as exploring the risks to which these children are exposed.

METHODS

Thematic content analysis was applied to children's written and drawn productions in order to extract the main categories and themes.

RESULTS

Four main domains of agency emerged from the analysis: personal growth, political well-being, social relationships, and geographical context. For each domain, specific dimensions are discussed.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of this preliminary exploration of children's agency suggest that the children's living environment plays a key role in shaping their suffering and reactions to war and ongoing violence. Furthermore, the social nature of the children affected by war-related suffering forces practitioners and policymakers to question the effectiveness of intervention programs that are predominantly focused on symptoms.