Youth in the midst of escalated political violence: sense of coherence and hope among Jewish and Bedouin Arab adolescents

The salutogenic model and sense of coherence

Researchers and theorists within virtually every subdiscipline of psychology have acknowledged the relevance of subjective construal and self-construal. While construal is a perception of the individual’s surroundings, self-construal is perception of one’s self [14]. The concept of construal can be seen in the works of many social psychologists including Kurt Lewin’s recognition of the importance of a subjective reality and its effect on one’s personal significance [15], and Brunswik’s theories of social perception [16]. Construal was once viewed as an obstruction in one’s perception of the world, but that understanding has evolved and construal is now viewed as a mechanism that can explain how or why individuals think the way they do [17].

Later, in the mid-1970s, a theory from medical sociology was developed and called the salutogenic model. This model suggests that life is full of stressful events and (similar to the construal concept) that the subjective meaning and the individual’s perception of an event have more important consequences than the event itself [18]. Thus, it would appear to be crucial to explore which resources lead an individual to perceive an event in a particular manner and to assign a particular subjective meaning to that event. Antonovsky [18] suggested two main concepts to provide a comprehensive answer to this question: generalized resistance resources (GRRs) and sense of coherence (SOC). GRRs include characteristics of the individual, group, or environment (subculture or society) that promote effective coping with stressful situations. Internal GRRs include cognitive and emotional resources and external GRRs include financial resources, living conditions, education, and social networks. The more GRRs one possesses the better one’s chances of overcoming a stressor [19]. According to Antonovsky [18], SOC strength is derived from GRRs.

Sense of coherence refers to an enduring attitude and measures how people view life, as well as how they identify, use, and reuse their GRRs to maintain and develop their health in the face of stressful situations. SOC has important implications for the ways in which individuals react to various kinds of stressful situations (for reviews of this topic, see [20, 21]).

Empirical research has shown that individualistic and collectivistic societies have different effects on individuals’ self-concepts and interpersonal relationships, as well as on their emotional and cognitive development [10, 15, 22]. Kagitcibasi [23] distinguished between collectivist and individualist societies, describing them as “the cultures of relatedness and separateness,” respectively. Collectivist cultures are characterized by a special concern with relationships and their maintenance. In collectivistic cultures that encourage a view of the self as interdependent, individuals are strongly motivated to adjust to and meet the expectations of socially meaningful others [16, 24]. Individualistic cultures, on the other hand, tend to encourage a view of the self as independent and in those cultures individuals are strongly motivated to confirm positive, self-defining attributes of the self, such as competence and efficacy [25]. Accordingly, it can be assumed that different cultural contexts may affect how people define themselves and view life, as well as which factors are considered to be resources and how individuals prefer to use and reuse their GRRs to maintain and develop their health in the face of stressful situations. Independent of collectivism and individualism, SOC is associated with lower levels of depression, neuroticism, and anxiety, as well as greater life satisfaction [21]. Based on the salutogenic approach, SOC is assumed to mediate relationships between exposure to political violence and stress reactions [26]. Individuals with a strong SOC will be less likely to feel threatened by events of war, such as missile attacks, and will be less emotionally vulnerable after having experienced such events [20, 27].

Several studies have explored SOC among individualistic majority and collectivistic minority groups around the world and the results of those studies have been inconsistent. While some collectivistic minority groups exhibit strong SOC that is similar to that of individualistic majority groups [28, 29], other collectivistic minority groups have been shown to exhibit weaker SOC than their individualistic majority counterparts (e.g., [1, 30]).

Studies of salutogenesis among adolescents have found that the relations between SOC and health or mental health among adolescents are similar to those observed among adults (e.g., [31, 32]). The better one’s health is perceived to be, the higher one’s SOC and, at the same time, the less severe one’s subjective health or mental-health complaints.

In addition to the collectivistic cultural orientation, the Bedouin Arab community in southern Israel is underprivileged in many areas (e.g., social, educational, political, and financial; [33]). Thus, Bedouin Arab adolescents have lower levels of GRRs (limited financial resources, harsh living conditions, lower levels of education) and SOC, as compared to their Jewish peers (e.g., [30]). Moreover, these adolescents belong to a society that is currently undergoing a rapid transition process.

Hope

According to Staats [34], hope is “intrinsically a positive affective cognition in the subjective present” (p. 22). Hope consists of cognitive elements of visualization and expectation, as well as affective elements of feeling good about expected pleasant events or outcomes [35]. However, Staats placed more emphasis on the affective component.

Other researchers have offered different definitions of hope and emphasized different components of this construct. For example, Folkman [36] discussed hope from the vantage of stress and coping theory. Her main assumption was that hope is essential when we need to confront stressful situations, but is not always available. Moreover, hope can sustain coping, when the individual moves forward to deal with the demands of his or her new challenging reality. Previous research has recognized the importance of hope as a resource that has lasting effects on an individual’s ability to cope with stressful situations [36, 37]. Hope seems to be particularly important among adolescents, who are known to be vulnerable to depression, pessimism, and learned helplessness [37]. Hope has individualistic (hope for the self) and collectivistic (hope for the other) components [38].

As members of a highly collectivistic culture, defined by Schwartz and Bilsky [39] as a culture that prioritizes “in-group goals over personal goals” (p. 140), Bedouin individuals are motivated to wish for and promote the goals of others (the collective) before or at the expense of their own personal goals [9, 40, 41]. However, these youths may also be affected by Western individualistic values through rapid change process and those values would encourage them to wish for, expect to achieve, and promote their own personal goals [42].

A study that examined individual and collective hope among Israeli and Palestinian youth during periods of political violence reported similarly high levels of individual hope among the two groups. However, levels of collective hope were higher among Palestinian adolescents than among their Israeli counterparts [43]. The authors of that work attributed these results to cultural differences. To the best of our knowledge, no research has been conducted to identify the unique role of individual or collective hope in predicting reactions to stress.

The role of demographic variables

Gender has been found to have a significant effect on stress reactions. The majority of studies reported in the literature confirm the importance of this gender effect, with girls generally expressing more distress and internalization of difficulties than boys. Boys, on the other hand, exhibit more externalization of problems and more risk-taking behavior [44, 45].

Age is considered to be a protective factor against stress. Several studies have found that younger children exhibit more severe psychopathology (e.g., somatic complaints, depression, and distress) in response to stress, as compared to older children and adolescents [46]. However, other studies focused on ongoing exposure to political violence reported no age effects [46, 47].

Research hypotheses

This study was conducted during a military operation in the Gaza Strip known as Operation Pillar of Clouds during which southern Israel was under intensive missile attack. We examined how coping resources (i.e., SOC, individual hope, and collective hope) explain the stress reactions of state anger and state anxiety. The two stress reactions were analyzed separately.

Measures

Statistical analysis

The current study was analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 24 software. Prior to the main analysis, data were screened by analyzing frequencies and descriptive statistics such as means, standard deviations, and ranges. No outliers or out-of-scale points were found. A missing-values analysis was conducted, and because for some variables more than 5% of the data were missing at random, missing data were estimated using expectation–maximization methods. A preliminary χ² analysis explored differences in sample characteristics between the two cultural groups. Then, three main sets of analyses were conducted. First, a two-way MANOVA with five dependent variables (DV) (SOC, individual hope, collective hope, state anger, and state anxiety) was used to explore the effects of cultural group, gender, and the interaction between culture and gender on the main study variables. Given the significance of the overall test, the univariate main effects were examined. Second, we computed zero-order correlations between coping resources and stress reactions among Bedouin Arab and Jewish students. Finally, we conducted hierarchical multiple regressions to answer our question concerning coping resources that may predict state anxiety and state anger in the different groups. Two hierarchical multiple regressions with interaction terms [53] were computed separately for each outcome variable (state anger and state anxiety). The predictors were: culture, age, SOC, individual hope, collective hope, and two-way interactions terms involving culture and SOC, culture and individual hope, and culture and collective hope.

Ethical considerations

This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Conflict Management and Resolution Program of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Informed consent and consent for publication were obtained from participants (or their parent or legal guardian in the case of those under age 16). We emphasized that the participation was voluntary and anonymous, and that they were free to withdraw their participation for any reason and at any time during the questionnaire administration. Data were collected using Arabic and Hebrew versions of questionnaires (which were developed as part of previous research) during November 2012, as hundreds of missiles were fired on many locations in Israel and an intensive military operation was conducted on and inside the Gaza Strip.

The study population

Cultural and gender differences

As compared to their Jewish counterparts, Bedouin Arab adolescents reported significantly higher levels of individual hope, collective hope, and state anger, as well as significantly lower levels of SOC. Gender differences were found only for state anxiety, with females reporting higher levels of state anxiety than male participants. Specifically, Jewish females reported higher levels of state anxiety than Jewish males. However, no effect of gender was noted in the Bedouin Arab sample (see Table 2).

Association between coping resources and stress reactions among Bedouin Arab and Jewish students

Multiple regression analysis of factors predicting state anger

Multiple regression analysis of factors predicting state anxiety

To further examine the role of the interaction term SOC × Culture in explaining state anxiety, a bivariate regression analysis was computed for each group with state anxiety was the criterion and SOC was the predictor. The results show that SOC predicted state anxiety only among the Jewish group, but not among the Bedouin Arab group.

Limitations and directions for future research

This study had some limitations and there are areas that warrant further attention in future research. First, our data were collected in the midst of a war and during a period of missile attacks, thus, some degree of potential sample bias should be taken into account. For example, the samples included a higher percentage of females than males. This bias may reduce the generalizability of the current findings for the general population. Thus, future research should include larger numbers of male and female participants in each cultural group. Moreover, the Bedouin Arab and Jewish participants were approached using different data-collection procedures (in person vs. online, respectively). In future research projects identical data-collection procedures should be used across all cultural groups. Furthermore, our findings were based on self-report measures. Further research using other methods of data collection (e.g., interview techniques, diaries, multi-informant techniques) would be beneficial and important for the evaluation of the validity of the obtained findings. The current study also underscores the need for future research to explore other significant coping resources (e.g., attachment or identification with a group, social support) and coping strategies (i.e., avoidant vs. active) among Bedouin Arab and Jewish adolescents facing escalations in political violence. In addition, a longitudinal study that included both periods of stability and periods of escalated violence would be the best way to examine attitudes, perceptions, and responses among adolescents. Moreover, it would be interesting to evaluate coping resources and stress reactions among parents of these adolescents and test the associations between the results of parents and their offspring.

Clinical, educational, and policy implications

Our study compared the coping resources and stress reactions of Bedouin Arab and Jewish adolescents. Such knowledge is expected to help mental-health professionals increase their awareness of the different factors and aspects of emotional distress that characterize each group of adolescents and which resources are important in reducing stress reactions among each cultural group. Bedouin Arab and Jewish adolescents may need similar intervention programs with regard to state anger; whereas different intervention programs may be recommended to help these adolescents manage state anxiety. These programs should be aimed at helping adolescents to cope effectively (by enhancing significant resources) during stressful situations.