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

ABSTRACT

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.

KEYWORDS:

• Resilience
• sense of coherence
• family support
• well-being
• economic condition
• sense of danger
• elderly people

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yohanan Eshel

Yohanan Eshel, PhD, is a professor emeritus of the Department of Psychology of the University of Haifa, Israel, and an associate professor of the Department of Psychology of Tel Hai College. His areas of expertise include educational and social psychology, cross-cultural relations, and resilience to stress.

Shaul Kimhi

Shaul Kimhi, PhD, is an associate professor and is also chair of the Department of Psychology of Tel Hai College. His areas of expertise include psychology of stress, psychopathology, personality, and political psychology.