Ecological change, psychological mindedness, and attitudes toward school psychology: a three-generation study of Bedouin women in Israel

Abstract

The ecologies of Bedouin communities in Israel have changed in recent generations. This mixed-method study examines how such changes have augmented psychological mindedness and a willingness to accept professional psychological help. Twenty-one adolescent girls, their mothers, and their grandmothers responded to dilemmas regarding aspects of psychological knowledge and practice. We expected that ecological change, such as increased Bedouin participation in the Israeli school system through high school, would be associated with greater psychological mindedness. Quantitative analyses of all participants and qualitative analyses of three families each indicated that daughters and mothers accepted psychology as a source of knowledge, accepted psychological intervention, and were willing to share mental health problems outside the family to a greater degree than grandmothers, who preferred religious authorities, older family members for help, and secrecy. Qualitative analyses revealed that mothers were mediating a transition between the perspective of grandmothers and perspective of their daughters.

The field and practice of psychology rest on assumptions concerning the self, mind, and social relations. This research focused on how ecological changes in the Bedouin community have influenced conceptions of psychology across generations in two ways: The psychologist’s role and psychology in general. The Bedouin population was chosen as representative of a community that has undergone large degrees of ecological and social change within the course of three generations. The indicators of social change that distinguish the three generations - increasing levels of education and movement to a more urban environment (from village to town) - are two elements in a context of other related ecological changes: increasing age of marriage, decreasing family size, and the development of professional roles (in the education system) for women. We expected that higher levels of formal education would be associated with a greater degree of psychological mindedness in a society that traditionally considers behavior to be guided by external social norms and corrections to behavior handled through enforcement of social norms as the means of correcting behavior. This conception is in contrast to psychological mindedness which looks to individual, internal psychological factors as the source of behavior and what must be addressed in handling behavioral issues. We also expected that greater emphasis on the internal psyche would be associated with greater acceptance of school psychology. But how do the effects of social change play out within families? Our mixed-method study of three generations in the same families addresses this question. Qualitative analysis provides a means to illuminate the lived experience of each generation; quantitative analysis explores the extent to which intergenerational change highlighted in the case studies is typical of a larger sample.

Greenfield’s theory of social change and human development

Greenfield’s (2009) theory of social change and human development provided a framework for these expectations. The theory suggests that formal education shifts developmental pathways in the direction of increasing values for individual autonomy (e.g., Manago, 2012). Thus, it might have relevance to shifts in the conception of the self and beliefs that the source of knowledge is in the individual and not just in external authority or in the social group. Greenfield’s theory of social change and human development (2009), employs the terms Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft, from German sociologist Tönnies (1957), to describe how sociodemographic change from a rural, subsistence ecology (Gemeinschaft) to an urban, commercialized ecology that has a higher level of formal education (Gesellschaft) shifts socialization from an emphasis on familial interdependence and group norms toward an emphasis on individual autonomy in decision making and thinking (Weinstock, 2015).

Developmental pathways emphasizing interdependence prioritize social obligations, responsibility to the family, and conformity to established social norms as determined by the social group; developmental pathways emphasizing autonomy prioritize the individual’s right to follow his or her personal desires, to select social partners, and to act freely within those social relationships (Manago et al., 2014). The two value systems underlying these developmental pathways are not seen as dichotomous but rather vary on a continuum.

A key difference between psychological processes in the two ecologies is that with formal education comes awareness of internal psychological processes; this awareness contrasts with a focus on external authority (Greenfield et al., 1966; Greenfield & Bruner, 1966). In a Gesellschaft ecology, not only are internal psychological processes a focus of awareness; they also contrast with a focus on external action (Greenfield, 2013). Another key difference between values and psychological processes in the two ecologies is reflected in child-centered values and parenting practices in Gesellschaft ecologies and respect for elders in more Gemeinschaft ecologies (Zhou et al., 2017).

The theory is also particularly useful for understanding intergenerational value change in families where each generation is growing up in a different ecology. Indeed, the movement from more Gemeinschaft to more Gesellschaft environments constitutes a global ecological trend that includes increasing formal education across the generations in multiple communities and countries (Greenfield, Maynard, et al., 2003; Manago, 2012, 2014; Weinstock et al., 2015; Zhou et al., 2017). Formal education encourages a focus on the self as an individual (Wang, 2006). Indeed, the goal of schooling is self-improvement through independent tasks and knowledge acquisition.

Background and historical placement of our three generations

The Bedouin population in the Negev is a subgroup within the Arab minority in Israel, and has a cultural, historical, social, and political uniqueness which distinguishes it from other subgroups in the Arab population (Elbadour, 2012). The Negev Bedouin used to be nomadic and later became semi-nomads who lived primarily by rearing sheep and camels in the desert of the southern Israel. This traditional way of life of the Bedouin Arabs in the Negev, however, has been greatly changed since the State of Israel was founded in 1948 (Abu Saad, 1991). After the establishment of Israel, the Bedouin almost completely ceased to move around with their herds because the state confiscated their lands and restricted areas of access. Grandmothers, the oldest generation in our study, were born on average in 1943, spending their childhood in the subsistence nomadic ecology that existed before Israel or its restrictive policies took effect.

In 1966, Bedouins started to become more involved with the Gesellschaft ecology of Israeli society. The vast majority of Bedouin Arabs became dependent upon wage labor in the Jewish sector in order to support themselves. In the early 1970s the Israeli government began implementing plans to move the Bedouin into urban settlements (Falah, 1983). Schooling became available to the Bedouin at this time. The generation of mothers in our sample, born on average in 1968, grew up in this ecology.

By 1990, 45% of the total Negev Bedouin population of 90,000 (Maddrell & Al-Grinawi, 1990) had settled in the seven officially legal towns. At that time, the remaining 55% of the Negev Bedouin community resisted relocation to one of the government-sanctioned towns, remaining in their original settlements (with 45% living in wood/tin shack settlements, and 10% living in traditional tents). Today, 60% of Negev Bedouin, out of a total population of approximately 240,000, live in these municipalities and villages sanctioned by the state (Inter-Agency Task Force on Israeli Arab issues, 2018). Bedouin villages and communities outside of these towns are not officially recognized by the state (and, hence, are known as “unrecognized villages”). The meaning of the policy of non-recognition is that the locality does not have jurisdiction or a municipal entity responsible for providing services such as health, education, and physical planning. Therefore, they lack basic infrastructure and utilities such as water, electricity, and landline telephones; and no local elections are held (Abu-Bader and Gradus, 2010). Moreover, along with this, there were no psychological services in any of the Bedouin localities. In the early 2000s, 11 unrecognized Bedouin villages were officially recognized and turned into two municipal regions. More recently, Bedouin began living in the city of Be’er Sheva—for most of its history Be’er Sheva was a small market town for the nomads transformed by rapid growth fueled by Jewish immigrants with the establishment of the State of Israel. Today, it has a population of over 200,000 (Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, 2019) and is the government center of the Negev around which are the Bedouin towns and villages. Moreover, one of the original seven towns sanctioned by the government now has a population large enough that it is officially classified as a city. Therefore, most Bedouins today are growing up in more urban environments than prior generations. The youngest generation in our sample grew up in this more urbanized ecology.

Through these experiences, the traditional Bedouin Arab community has undergone an intensive process of urbanization and technological change (Abu Saad, 1991). One corollary of these changes that is highlighted in this article is formal education. Although some changes have taken place, the community still greatly conforms to the old traditions and cultural values. Here we focus on how these traditions and values might contrast with the idea of psychological services and their basis in psychological mindedness. Our goal is to document the nature of this contrast and its reduction as each successive generation receives increasing levels of formal education, becomes more urban, and increases in professionalization.

The types of residences among the Bedouins—unrecognized villages, recognized towns, the Bedouin city, and multi-ethnic (primarily Jewish) city—represent different social ecologies. Originally, when the Bedouins lived in what are now considered unrecognized villages, life for the homogenous populations was rural, with no formal education, little division of labor except between genders, and based on subsistence economies. With shifts toward the recognized towns, and their continued growth, and toward living in cities, Bedouins in the towns and cities live in more diverse, urban, commercial environments with greater access to a range of work and formal education. Thus, we expect each generation to differ according to the social ecology in which they grew up, and those growing up today in each social ecology would likely still differ, even though the ecology of each, including the unrecognized villages, has become part of a more urban, commercial, technological environment with greater access to formal education than in earlier generations.

Education, alongside economic opportunities to make use of education, may also have a profound effect on conceptions of gender by altering the ways women are able to fulfill gender roles (Dreze & Murthi, 2001). Education provides women with alternative opportunities to achieve adult social status and wealth outside of childbearing (Handwerker, 1986). Changes in socialization practices may also have an effect on partnering and marriage. Because three generations—grandmothers, mothers, and adolescents—were interviewed in each family, we are able to document these intergenerational changes in women’s education, occupational roles, and age of marriage in individual families.

Predictions

Greenfield’s theory highlighting effects of the broader Bedouin ecology in concert with the sociodemographic shifts we expected in our Bedouin participants led to a series of predictions. We expected intergenerational increase in multiple indicators of Gesellschaft-adapted values, with simultaneous waning of Gemeinschaft-adapted values. Specifically, across three generations, we expected:

1. Increasing emphasis on individual needs.

2. Decreasing emphasis on family-centered values and normative community standards.

3. Increasing focus on internal psychological processes.

4. An increase in child-centeredness.

It is important to emphasize that the societal shifts and shifts in values we expected to find, and the expected shifts toward psychological mindedness which we describe below, do not simply grow from within the culture. As described in the history of the settlement of the Bedouins above, and in the history of psychology in Bedouin schools described in the following, the Bedouins are an oppressed minority in Israel that have undergone drastic social change and been both granted and denied services because of government policy. Shifts from Gemeinschaft toward Gesellschaft ecologies often occur because of powerful, external forces; another example is of the remote Mayan villages of Chiapas being connected by roads built by the central Mexican government, and the society becoming more commercial and seeing the establishment of schools (Manago, 2014). Moreover, most of the region in which the Bedouins live is now part of a metropolis of which, like the rest of Israel, is majority Jewish, comprising Jews who have immigrated from many parts of the world. While the sociodemographic changes require adaptations by the Bedouins in the way they work and the values they hold, there is also tension with internal forces struggling to maintain traditional values and ways of life.

Psychological services for Bedouin schools in Southern Israel

The absence of psychological services in Bedouin schools for decades after the founding of Israel reflects the Gemeinschaft ecologies of Bedouins in that period of time. Until 1978, no psychologist had worked in any of the 22 schools of the Negev Bedouin system. Today, consonant with large changes in Bedouin ecologies, there are 9 official school psychology services which are officially responsible for all the Bedouin population in both recognized and unrecognized villages. However, there are historically founded cultural barriers to their use. The identification of these barriers is a major goal of this research.

Cultural barriers

Somatization of the psychological

Arab Muslim clients do not distinguish emotional or psychological distress from physical illness, and the majority of population tends to somatize their illness (Al-Krenawi et al., 2000; Al-Krenawi & Graham, 2000). This is one consequence of downplaying the importance of the inner psyche. They therefore have less familiarity and acceptance of psychotherapy, which, at its origins, was based on treating the inner psyche.

Strong family interdependence and importance of religious authority

Consistent with the value placed on familial interdependence, Muslims first seek help from a family member. The second step is often to go to a religious authority, a traditional healer. Muslims believe that physical, material, and spiritual comfort are reached only through obedience to the will of God (Allah). One aspect of reliance on religious authority is hierarchic culture (Thein, 2007). Traditional sources of authority may be undermined by professional sources of authority such as the school psychologist (Greenfield, Keller, et al., 2003a; Weinstock, 2015). Therefore, only when family and religious resources fail to help, do Bedouins seek formal health services (Al-Abdul-Jabbar & Al-Issa, 2000; Al-Krenawi et al., 2000; Al-Krenawi & Graham, 2000; Dwairy, 1998; Nasser & Amena, 2009). Hierarchical roles (e.g., religious authority) and roles ascribed by birth (e.g., respect for family elders) tend to dissipate as ecology moves in the Gesellschaft direction (Zhou et al., 2017). At the same time, the role of professional expertise outside the family allows recognition of technical knowledge outside the realm of religion and tradition (Greenfield, Keller, et al., 2003a, 2019; Weinstock, 2015).

Prediction

Grandmothers would not trust psychologists as purveyors of knowledge, but would prefer elder family members or traditional religious authorities. Over the generations, there would be a shift toward trust in psychologists.

Cultural prohibition against disclosure of personal affairs

This prohibition in Bedouin culture discourages the use of social support for coping with stressful events (Al-Abdul-Jabbar & Al-Issa, 2000; Ali et al., 2004; Fonte and Horton-Deutsch (2005). Here the idea is that one should be modest and not be a burden on others; this is a manifestation of placing priority on harmony in social relations at the expense of one’s own psyche. This is probably why Bedouin students reported lower levels of social support than their Jewish counterparts and one factor in their higher levels of self-criticism, avoidant coping, and depression than Jewish students (Abu-Kaf & Braun-Lewensohn, 2015). Because of the cultural prohibition against disclosure of personal affairs, along with the perceived societal stigma of disclosure of personal problems (Aloud & Rathur, 2009), the concept of counseling in Muslim Arabic communities has been perceived to be inappropriate and incompatible with norms, social values and attitudes to treatment for emotional problems (Abu-Rasa, 2003; Ciftci et al., 2013).

Implications of cultural barriers for use of mental health services

One would expect that these cultural barriers would lead Arab Muslims to avoid seeking professional mental health services. In fact, Arab Muslims around the world tend to hold negative attitudes toward formal mental health and psychological services and positive attitudes toward informal traditional and religious services (Al-Krenawi & Graham, 2000, Al-Adawi et al., 2002).

Prediction

We expected that this reluctance to go outside family and traditional authorities for psychological help would be strongest in grandmothers and decrease in later generations.

Social change and Bedouin women

Social change has influenced Bedouin women in specific ways. “Today many more women are exposed to education and allowed to leave their villages for this purpose. Outward signs of women’s advancement appear more in the recognized villages in terms of Western clothing, continuation in education and the women’s ability to create ways of working within the cultural context” (Al-Krenawi, 2004, p. 12; see also Abu-Rabia-Queder, 2008). An earlier study had found that intergenerational change in cultural values was happening a generation earlier in women than men in this same population (Abu Aleon et al., 2019). Intergenerational change in women’s roles is particularly meaningful when considering school psychology because of the central role the women have in caring for their children and their families. With social change and introduction of psychological services that focus on children and their families, it can be expected that the way women may carry out their essential roles may change as well. Therefore, it was particularly relevant to study three generations of women—the design of the present research - because women were likely to be a more rapidly changing segment of the Bedouin population than their male peers.

This study

The current research examines three generations—daughters (adolescents), their mothers and their grandmothers. The three generations serve as a proxy for social change (Pinquart & Silbereisen, 2004). This design can illuminate ways in which three generations live in the same space but have encountered different realities, especially in the educational sphere, leading to different attitudes toward conceptions of psychology and the psychologist’s role in children’s education.

Our population is particularly well-suited to the issue of intergenerational change because Bedouins from the southern part of Israel are more traditional than Arabs in other parts of Israel; and social change has been gradual rather than sudden. This Bedouin population therefore lends itself particularly well to an examination of the effect of social change in a cross-generational study. Moreover, through intergenerational transmission, the more traditional norms and ways of thinking are still available to each successive generation. Hence mothers have a unique middle position.

Prediction

In line with a prior study of intergenerational dynamics in the same Bedouin population (Abu Aleon et al., 2019), we expected mothers to show evidence of negotiating between the more Gemeinschaft-adapted views of the grandmothers and the more Gesellschaft-adapted views of their daughters.

Summary

By focusing on three generations in the same family, we can see how the dynamics of transmission, conflict, and change operate within families. Although increasing evidence points to a connection between Gesellschaft conditions and the socialization of autonomy and gender egalitarianism, we yet know little about how youth in the midst of change from Gemeinschaft to Gesellschaft circumstances make sense of the corresponding value shifts. Their meaning-making can provide us with insights into how cultural values evolve through developmental processes and socialization experiences (Manago, 2014; Weinstock, 2015; Weinstock et al., 2015).

Practical and theoretical significance of the research

This is the first research about the role of psychology in Bedouin society. For the first author, a Bedouin school psychologist, and other Bedouin school psychologists, it is very important to understand how their role is perceived and what factors influence seeking psychological help.

On a theoretical level, the study applies, tests, and elaborates Greenfield’s theory by exploring psychological mindedness as a Gesellschaft adaptation. It applies the concept of psychological mindedness to attitudes toward help seeking and conceptions of psychology as a helping profession.

Summary of expectations

We expected that sociodemographic changes across the generations, such as an increase in formal education, greater exposure to diversity in an urban environment, and greater divisions of labor including professionalization would be associated with intergenerational increase in multiple indicators of Gesellschaft-adapted values, along with a simultaneous waning of Gemeinschaft-adapted values—more specifically, increasing emphasis on individual needs; decreasing emphasis on family-centered values and normative community standards; increasing focus on internal psychological processes; and an increase in child-centeredness. We also thought that grandmothers would prefer elder family members or religious authorities to address mental health issues in the family. We thought that participants in each successive generation would be more open to the value of psychological knowledge and to psychological services regarding children’s behavior issues and mental health. We expected that reluctance to go outside the family and traditional authorities for psychological help would be strongest in the grandmothers and decrease in each successive generation. We also expected the middle generation to have the most complex views as these women have to negotiate between the values of their mothers and those of their adolescent daughters.

Method

Participants

The research participants are three generations of Bedouin women in Israel: adolescent high-school students, their mothers, and their maternal grandmothers. We draw data from a larger study in three different, exclusively Bedouin settings in the Negev area of Israel (unrecognized Bedouin villages, recognized Bedouin villages, and the Bedouin city). The sample included 21 three-generation families (N = 63); this is the sample size for the quantitative analysis.

For our qualitative analysis, we have selected three three-generation families (N = 9) where the second and third generation had more education than the first; and, in addition, the third generation differed from the first two by growing up in towns sanctioned by the Israeli government, rather than in unrecognized villages. In this way, selection of the families for the case-study analysis reflected the sample as a whole (Tables 1 & 2): the Gesellschaft factor of formal education increased from Generation 1 to Generation 2, while the factor of residence shifted in the Gesellschaft direction between Generation 2 and Generation 3.

Table 1. Sociodemographic characteristics of three generation research participants.

	Sociodemographic characteristics
Generation	Age (M)	Education^a (Median)	Residence-type growing up^b (n)	Age of Marriage (M)	Number of children (M)	Work (Median)
Grandmother (N = 21)	72	0	UV – 20 RT – 1 C – 0	16.48	10.00	0
Mother (N = 21)	44.80	4.00	UV – 15 RT – 3 C – 3	21.71	5.90	4.00^c
Daughter (N = 21)	16.86	2	UV – 2 RT – 14 C – 5	(21.86)^d	(2.05)^d	Students

^aEducation coding: 0 = none; 1= elementary + middle; 2 = high school; 3 = college (B.Ed.); 4 = university (B.A.); 5 = graduate degree.

Education average for grandmothers is 0 because only two had elementary school with the rest having no formal education. Distribution across types for mothers: one mother (0), three mothers (1), four mothers (2), two mothers (3), five mothers (4), six mothers (5).

^bUV = unrecognized village; RT = recognized town; C = city; Currently 2 families of all three generations live in UV, 14 live in RT, and 5 live in C.

^cWork coding: 0 = homemaker; 1 = casual work (occasional work - house cleaning); 2 = salaried work with no education; 3 = preschool assistant or nanny; 4 = teacher; 5 = professional. The distribution is: three mothers (0), one mother (1), two mothers (2), four mothers (3), seven mothers (4), four mothers (5).

^dThe means represent the daughters’ reported intentions. The mean intended age of marriage does not include two girls who said they do not want to get married. The mean intended number of children includes five girls who said they do not want to have children.

Table 2. Sociodemographic characteristics of families in qualitative sample

Generation	Age	Education	Village-type growing up	Age of marriage	Number of children	Work
Family L8
Grandmother	75	0	Unrecognized	16	9	0
Mother	50	High school	Unrecognized	22	8	Home preschool
Daughter	17	High school	Recognized	(26)^a	(0)^a	Student
Family L1
Grandmother	72	0	Unrecognized	16	12	0
Mother	50	High school	Unrecognized	19	6	Kindergarten teacher assistant
Daughter	17	High school	Recognized	(25)^a	(2)^a	Student
Family L2
Grandmother	67	0	Unrecognized	17	9	0
Mother	45	M.A.	Unrecognized	23	6	Teacher
Daughter	17	High school	Recognized	(25)^a	(2)^a	Student

^aDaughter’s reported intention.

Mixed-method design

We developed a convergent mixed-method case-study design (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2018). In this design quantitative and qualitative data are collected at the same time and merged. The qualitative analysis of cultural and behavioral shifts in specific families was used to illustrate the quantitative results and to gain a more complete understanding of how intergenerational shifts played out in individual families.

Materials and analysis

Process of developing dilemma stories

As in prior research in Israel and elsewhere (e.g., Abu Aleon et al., 2019; Manago, 2014; Weinstock et al., 2015), participants responded to culturally specific dilemmas about conflicts in values and ways of knowing. In this study, The Orientations for Seeking Professional Help (OSPH) Questionnaire (Fischer & Turner, 1970) served as a guide for several issues to be addressed by the dilemmas. But using the scale itself, rather than dilemmas was problematic because of the likely difficulty in understanding the meaning of scale points in the Likert format, especially among uneducated Bedouin mothers and grandmothers (see Greenfield, 1997). Because dilemmas, in contrast, have a story format, they are understandable across all educational levels (Greenfield, 2018).

The dilemmas used in prior research on social change in Mexico and Israel (Manago, 2014; Weinstock et al., 2015) were developed with people in the community to ensure that the issues were relevant and were indeed issues about which people in the community held different points of view. To accomplish this in the current research, the first step involved Arab school psychologists who work in the Bedouin community. The first author interviewed them to determine the main issues that they face working in the Bedouin community. The entire set of dilemmas is based on interviews with these psychologists.

Next, a small pilot sample of Bedouins from a range of sociodemographic backgrounds was interviewed. Their responses confirmed that the dilemmas were both meaningful and understandable and that opinions on each issue varied.

Dilemma stories and response categories

In the larger research project, participants responded to 19 culture-specific dilemmas. These dilemmas captured a range of issues. Three dilemmas were chosen as concerning general attitudes toward engagement with a psychologist: Belief in psychology compared with traditional knowledge as authoritative source of knowledge; confidence or lack of confidence in a school psychologist’s recommendations; and the propriety of speaking openly about personal issues.

The topics of dilemmas not included in the current analysis include several about the specific issue of discussions of sexuality and gender (whether or not to divulge sexual abuse, whether the gender of a psychologist matters, and whether it is the proper role of the school psychologist to promote sex education), personal tolerance of stigma, and epistemic perspectives on the source of knowledge in general (not necessarily related to psychology).

The three dilemmas were chosen to represent their topics for mixed-method analysis in this article because the responses by members of each generation were clearly distinguishable and articulated. The interviewee responds in her own words, which provide insight into her thought processes and lived experience. All of the participants (N = 63) responded to all of the 19 dilemmas in the larger research, including the three dilemmas analyzed in the current study. As will be shown in the quantitative results, generational differences appeared in each of these three dilemmas across all participants. The three families included in the qualitative analyses exemplify this pattern, and were chosen because of the clearly articulated positions of members of each generation.

In each dilemma story, one character presents a Gemeinschaft-adapted response, the other character a Gesellschaft-adapted response. The participants state which character they agree with and explain why. For purposes of both qualitative and quantitative analysis, each dilemma had a Gesellschaft-adapted response category, a Gemeinschaft-adapted response category, and a third response category that was a mixture of the two. The topics and response categories of the three dilemma stories were as follows:

Psychology as a source of knowledge - Is authoritative knowledge professional or traditional? (Gesellschaft adapted: Professional; Gemeinschaft adapted: Traditional)

Should parents have confidence in a school psychologist’s diagnosis for special education? (Gesellschaft adapted: For psychologist’s recommendation; Gemeinschaft adapted: Against psychologist’s recommendation)

Interpersonal openness in seeking a school psychologist help. (Gesellschaft adapted: Able to consult psychologist; Gemeinschaft adapted: Not open to including anybody)

Qualitative analysis

The wording of each dilemma will be presented in the Results section, along with the responses of three generations in one family, in order to exemplify intergenerational change at the family level. The quotations of the family members are followed by an interpretive analysis of each generation’s response.

The qualitative analysis will provide evidence for the intergenerational increase in multiple indicators of Gesllschaft-adapted values, with simultaneous waning of Gemeinschaft-adapted values. Specifically, across three generations, the analysis will provide indicators of

1. Increasing emphasis on individual needs.

2. Decreasing emphasis on family-centered values and normative community standards.

3. Increasing focus on internal psychological processes.

4. An increase in child-centeredness.

The qualitative analysis will also provide evidence that mothers, the middle generation, are negotiating between the grandmothers’ views and their daughters’ views.

Qualitative analysis will also illuminate how the predictions explored in the quantitative analysis described next play out in individual families.

Quantitative analysis

The quantitative analysis is used to relate each qualitative case study of intergenerational shifts to the sample as a whole. Tables 3, 4, and 5 present quantitative data from the total sample for each dilemma. Numbers in the left-hand column of each table represent Gesellschaft-oriented responses for grandmothers, mothers, and daughters; numbers in the right-hand column of each table represent Gemeinschaft-oriented responses for each generation; numbers in the middle column of each table (labeled “mix”) represent responses in each generation that did not strongly discount either of the opposing positions.

Fisher’s exact tests were used to test for associations between generation and dilemma responses. These were followed by Fisher’s exact tests between pairs of generations in order to identify particular generations in which statistically significant change took place. The quantitative analysis tested two hypotheses:

1. Grandmothers would not trust psychologists as purveyors of knowledge or services; each successive generation would show greater trust (the first two dilemmas).

2. Reluctance to go outside family and traditional authorities for psychological help would be strongest in grandmothers and decrease in each successive generation (the third dilemma).

Interrater reliability

To establish reliability for the quantitative analysis, the first author and a Bedouin research assistant independently coded the same randomly chosen 20 protocols of all 19 dilemmas in the original Arabic across the three generations. The assigned each dilemma a code of Gemeinschaft-adapted (1), Gesellschaft-adapted (3), or mixed (2) according to the response of the participant.

For the current study, the interrater reliability is reported for the three dilemmas analyzed. As 63 participants responded to each of these dilemmas, the 20 protocols represents just under one-third of the total, hence exceeding the usual standard of 20% for assessing interrater reliability (Syed & Nelson, 2015). Weighted kappa was used to assess reliability between the raters. For “psychology as a source of knowledge” and “interpersonal openness in seeking a school psychologist’s help,” weighted kappa was 1.00, indicating perfect agreement. For “confidence in the psychologist,” weighted kappa was .87, indicating almost perfect agreement. All disagreements were resolved through discussion between the two coders, and the consensus code was inserted into the final dataset. As for the qualitative analysis, the first and second authors discussed each of the nine protocols, agreeing on the themes and characteristics of each.

Procedure

The first part of the interview was sociodemographic. In this article we utilize information provided about education level, type of town in which the participant grew up, number of children, age of marriage, and type of work.

In the second part of the interview, participants were presented with the full set of nineteen dilemmas, three of which are analyzed in this paper. The third part of the interview, not utilized here, concerned knowledge about and attitudes toward psychology services within the community. In Part 3, Interviewees were also given an opportunity to expand on their previous choices in response to the dilemma stories.

The main interviewer was the first author of this paper, who comes from the same cultural group as the participants and is also a school psychologist. These were important attributes, as only a professional from within the society can fully understand the intricacies of its unique situation.

Interviews were conducted in Arabic, as spoken by Bedouins. As there are large differences between written and spoken Arabic, the interview protocol was written in a way to allow the interview to take place in the vernacular and be consistent across participants. The interviews were recorded with a digital tape recorder.

Two Bedouin students, members of the communities from which the samples were drawn, served as research assistants. They arranged with principals of schools to present the nature of the research to the adolescents. Those adolescents who expressed interest brought the consent forms home for the parents to sign. Thus, all of the recruitment took place under the auspices of authoritative community structures. After interviews with adolescents who had obtained their parent’s permission, separate interviews were arranged with their mothers and their grandmothers.

The general purpose of the research was explained to all the research participants. Participants of all ages signed informed consent forms, and parents also signed forms allowing their adolescent daughters to participate. To ensure that all participants understood the consent forms, they were read out loud by the research assistants. They were told explicitly that personal information would be kept separate from the interview transcripts and that their anonymity would be ensured. They were also told that they had the option of ending their participation during the interview for any reason. The interview materials and consent forms submitted with the application for ethics committee approval were in Hebrew; however, the participants were interviewed in Arabic and received Arabic translations of the consent forms. The research had ethics approval from the Chief Scientist’s Office of the Israeli Ministry of Education (file #9371) and from the [Ben-Gurion University of the Negev] Human Subjects Research Committee (file #1510-1).

Results

Sociodemographic characteristics across the generations

Sociodemographic information for all 21 families is shown in Table 1. The same sociodemographic characteristics of each three-generation family in the qualitative analysis is presented in Table 2. In all three families, the intergenerational change from characteristics found in a Gemeinschaft ecology to characteristics found in a Gesellschaft ecology reflect changes on the societal level presented in the introduction and confirmed by the sample as a whole. There is a shift toward more urban residence, in that all of the daughters are being raised in recognized villages, whereas their mothers and grandmothers grew up in unrecognized villages.

In each of the three families, grandmothers did not have any opportunity for formal education, whereas the mothers all completed at least high school; and their adolescent daughters were currently attending high school. Whereas the grandmothers did not work outside the home, the mothers are all teachers at various levels (see Table 2).

In each family, age of marriage increased from grandmother to mother, with all daughters intending to marry later than previous generations. Similarly, family size decreased from grandmother to mother, with adolescent daughters intending to have fewer children than either their mothers or their grandmothers. The intergenerational change is most dramatized when one realizes that all the grandmothers were married when they were their granddaughters’ current age (see Table 2).

Case studies and whole-sample responses to the dilemma stories

Intergenerational increase in accepting psychology as a source of knowledge

Dilemma

Affaf is a student in 4th grade. Recently Affaf has gotten extremely afraid of noises. Her mother turned to the school psychologist in order to treat Affaf. Affaf’s grandmother heard about this and was opposed. She claimed that only the care of the Sheikh would help Affaf.

With whom do you agree? With the mother or grandmother? Why?

In this dilemma, psychology is presented as a source of knowledge, in opposition to traditional knowledge.

Responses by three generations (Family L8)

Grandmother: I am with the grandmother because she is older and understands interest.

Understands that the sheikh reads verses to her from the Koran and calms her and heals her child. And she sees the bad from the good, uh-huh. The older person should consult with him not consult with young people. The older man has brains and has a head.

(Traditional knowledge)

Mother: I'm with the mother. The sheikhs are wrong and delusional. The mother knows what

is best for her child and not the grandmother. Surely the mother knows what the reason is. Maybe she was afraid of something at school. She must have been afraid of something. There is no such thing as Sheikhs. That is nonsense.

(Mixture)

Daughter: I am with the mother because the psychologist knows how to treat the child from her fear of noises from her fear and her phobia better than Mashiach [the Sheikhs]. There is no connection to Sheikh in this subject. That’s what I think.

(Professional knowledge)

These generational differences thematically reflect an argument about authority. The grandmother in Family L8 shows respect for traditional religious authority and the wisdom of elders.

The mother unequivocally rejects the traditional authority of the sheik. However, she still maintains a social perspective, emphasizing the role of the mother. She implicitly accepts the mother’s decision to take her daughter to the school psychologist, although without explicit mention of professional knowledge. Unlike the grandmother, she shows psychological mindedness by considering her daughter’s psychological state in her reasoning.

For the daughter, knowledge comes from experts. Knowledge exists in the psychologist. In addition, she explicitly refers to her individuated, psychological self in a way the mothers and grandmothers did not. She emphasizes that this is her personal thought: “That’s what I think.” She also interjects a psychological term “phobia” (the word is the same in Hebrew and English) into her Arabic discourse, a sign that psychological concepts have come from contact in the educational system with the psychological mindedness of the broader Israeli society.

Quantitative analysis

Table 3 presents the results for the sample as a whole with respect to this dilemma. A Fisher’s Exact Test (14.24, p = .005) showed that generation was associated with responses to the dilemma. The follow-up tests comparing pairs of generations showed that a significant difference appeared between the grandmothers’ and mothers’ generation (Fisher’s Exact Test = 13.34, p = .001) but not between the mothers’ and adolescents’ generations (Fisher’s Exact Test = 2.90, ns).

Table 3. Psychology as a source of knowledge: Distribution of responses for the whole sample.

	Answer choice
Group	Professional knowledge	Mix	Traditional knowledge
Grandmothers	7	5	9
Mothers	16	5	0
Adolescents	14	4	3
Total	37	14	12

Note: The significant comparison between adjacent generations is between grandmothers and mothers where there is a significant generational difference (p = .001). The difference between mothers and daughters is not statistically significant.

As predicted, grandmothers did not trust psychologists as purveyors of knowledge and preferred knowledge possessed by a religious authority, while the two younger generations preferred professional knowledge possessed by the psychologist. However, rather than two intergenerational shifts as predicted, there was only one: between the grandmothers and the mothers. Daughters and mothers did not think differently on this point.

Intergenerational increase in confidence in the psychologist

Dilemma

Abdullah noticed that his son is having a hard time at school. His son had a meeting with the school psychologist. After diagnosing him, the psychologist recommended that he move into special education. Abdullah agreed with the psychologist. The boy’s grandfather did not agree and said: “We know what is best for the boy more than anyone else.” He wanted to keep the boy in regular school. Abdullah claims that the psychologist understands more in this situation.

Whom do you agree with? With Father Abdullah or the Grandfather? Why?

In this dilemma story, the issue is whether or not parents should have confidence in a school psychologist’s diagnosis for special education.

Responses by three generations (family L1)

Grandmother: With the grandfather, that his grandfather talking is a great history. The grandfather is an older man and wants his son’s son to learn well and does not want him to be late on the subjects studied. Yes, the older person, what he says, must obey him.

(Against psychological recommendation)

Mother: I'm with Abdullah because if the child is integrated from the beginning it could be that he gets better but if he stays at school he will not progress. He needs more special education than regular classes. In a regular classroom, students learn as usual and do not distinguish between one child or another. Kh’als [Just] give material and move on, and then the child cannot close gaps with other children. That’s why I feel that special education does not mean that it is for retarded or sick children, special education is sometimes for weak children who need guidance from someone in individual work.

(For psychological recommendation)

Daughter: I'm with Abdullah. Why? For one, a psychologist has the experience and learns and knows in this field. The grandfather is more considering how the society will look at the child if he goes into special education, and I do not know what else he will think. Here the psychologist thinks what is best for the child and not what is good for other people. The grandfather will think about what people will think. His thought is primitive, as they say.

(For psychological recommendation)

In this case study of three generations, the grandmother again chooses and obeys the opinion of an older person, valuing respect for the authority of an elder, an adaptive and important value in a Gemeinschaft community. In contrast, the mother shows awareness of the role of special education, favoring the professional expertise that is part of a Gesellschaft ecology. Her concern with the child’s progress also reflects greater child-centeredness, compared with the grandmother’s orientation toward the older generation. The adolescent daughter takes an even more child-centered perspective. She supports the psychologist in caring more about what is best for the individual child than about what others will think; she rejects the latter, labeling it as primitive thinking. The daughter also emphasizes the importance of the psychologist’s knowledge and professional experience.

Quantitative analysis

Table 4 presents the results for the sample as a whole with respect to this dilemma. A Fisher’s Exact Test (16.11, p = .001) showed that generation was associated with responses to the dilemma. The follow-up tests comparing pairs of generations showed a significant difference between the grandmothers’ and mothers’ generation with many more mothers than grandmothers choosing to follow the recommendation of the psychologist. (Fisher’s Exact Test = 9.35, p = .01). There was no significant difference between the mothers’ and adolescents’ generations (Fisher’s Exact Test = 0.79, ns). As can be seen in Table 4, many more mothers than grandmothers chose to follow the recommendation of the psychologist. A point in Table 4 that is similar to the case study of Family L8 (Table 3) is the overwhelming rejection of traditional knowledge in the mothers’ generation, compared with acceptance by a large number of grandmothers. The case study of generational change in response to this scenario is aligned with generational change in the sample as a whole.

Table 4. Confidence in psychologist: Distribution of responses in the whole sample.

	Answer choice
Group	For psychologist recommendation (for special education)	Mix	Against psychologist recommendation
Grandmothers	6	8	7
Mothers	16	3	2
Adolescents	18	2	1
Total	40	13	10

Note: The significant comparison between adjacent generations is between grandmothers and mothers where there is a significant association (p = .01). The comparison between mothers and daughters is not statistically significant.

As predicted, there was intergenerational change toward increasing trust in psychological services. However, rather than two intergenerational shifts as predicted, there was again only one: between the grandmothers and the mothers. Daughters and mothers did not think differently on this point.

Interpersonal openness

Dilemma

Suad notices that her daughter who is in 7th grade has been isolated recently and avoids meeting people. She doesn’t know what to do with her. Her friend recommends that she seek counseling with a school psychologist. Suad says that she is not ready to include anybody in things that concern her daughter. Her friend said: “It is not right. If I know that there are people that can help me, I am ready to include them without any problem.”

Whom do you agree with, Suad or her friend? Why?

In this dilemma story, the issue is whether or not a parent is open to seeking help for their child from a school psychologist, someone outside the family.

Responses by three generations of Family L2

Grandmother: I agree that she will contact the person who will help her, either her mother or sister or psychologist in this situation.

(Mixture)

Mother: Yeah, her friend because she says her daughter has suddenly started to get away and not participating and started and started … There must be a reason for this. With the help of the psychologist when sitting with the daughter, maybe a daughter has things she wants to talk to the psychologist that she cannot share with her mother. So, it is important that she meet a psychologist because there is a key that opens between her and the psychologist. He might cure her. There can be no doubt that he will find a solution.

(Open to consulting psychologist)

Daughter: With her friend. Yes. How I said the psychologist could help this girl and be more sociable. So, she can turn without any problem yes.

(Open to consulting psychologist)

This grandmother agreed to consult, but she recommended starting with the mother or a sister, that is, with a family member. Consulting with professional is not rejected, but it is less preferable.

The mother answers quite differently. For the mother there is no doubt about the ability to consult the psychologist about personal issues regarding her daughter. She seems to realize that sometimes it is easier to share personal matters with someone outside the family, rather than a family member. In addition, this mother shows her knowledge and understanding of the psychologist’s role in treatment. She shows confidence in the efficacy of the treatment.

For the daughter, the concern from the beginning is that the girl needs help and she can seek professional help without any problem. There is no hesitating in her answer and there are no conditions. If the girl needs help, she should get professional assistance.

Quantitative analysis

Table 5 presents the results for the sample as a whole with respect to this dilemma. A Fisher’s Exact Test (14.57, p = .002) showed that generation was associated with responses to the dilemma. The follow-up tests comparing pairs of generations showed that a significant association is again with grandmothers and mothers, with many more mothers than grandmothers open to consulting the psychologist (Fisher’s Exact Test = 10.75, p = .003). There was no significant difference between the mothers’ and adolescents’ generations (Fisher’s Exact Test = 1.09, ns).

The case study is again confirmed by analysis of the whole sample. Once again, the significant difference is between the grandmothers’ and mothers’ generation, confirming the predicted intergenerational change, but occurring in one step rather than two. Both mother and daughter agree that Suad’s mother should seek psychological counseling. The grandmother does not disagree, but believes a family member would be preferable.

Table 5. Interpersonal openness: Distribution of responses in the whole sample.

	Answer choice
Group	Open to consulting psychologist	Mix	Not open to including anybody
Grandmothers	9	11	1
Mothers	19	2	0
Adolescents	18	2	1
Total	46	15	2

Note: The significant comparison between adjacent generations is between grandmothers and mothers where there is a significant association (p = .003). The comparison between mothers and daughters is not statistically significant.

Discussion

Quantitative data analyses revealed an intergenerational increase in acceptance of psychological knowledge and services. Part of this acceptance was greater willingness across the generations to share problems with a stranger—the psychologist. In line with the increase in educational opportunity that was experienced in the mothers’ generation, the quantitative analyses documented one generational break—between grandmothers and mothers. Mothers and daughters were not significantly different from each other in which scenario character they supported; correlatively, their educational experiences were quite similar. The mothers in the three case studies had at least a high school education, as did their daughters.

Although mothers and daughters did not differ on the superficial level of their choice of scenario character, in-depth qualitative analysis revealed a unique role for mothers: As predicted, their reasoning often took into account and integrated the views of both the grandmother and the adolescent daughter. Mothers were the generation negotiating between two worlds.

As predicted, both quantitative and qualitative analysis provides evidence for an intergenerational increase in multiple indicators of a Gesellschaft orientation, with simultaneous waning of a Gemeinschaft orientation. Specifically, across three generations, we found indicators of increasing emphasis on individual needs, decreasing emphasis on family-centered values and normative community standards, increasing focus on internal psychological processes, and an increase in child-centeredness. All of these shifts are adaptive when communities move from a more Gemeinschaft to a more Gesellschaft ecology.

It is important here to note that the shifts between value systems involve integrated and synergistic changes. Thus, family-centeredness is inextricably tied in a Gemeinschaft ecology with appeal to familial authority. In contrast, appeal to an outside authority signifies a reduction in both family-centeredness and family authority.

Our sample of 21 families represents on the family level general changes in Bedouin society, of which the existence of professional psychologists is just one. From what we know of the sociodemographic backgrounds of the participants, it seems that the change which has been most significant in the differences between the generations is education.

Greenfield (2009) posits that changes in a social ecology produce changes in the learning environment which, in turn, produces shifts in pathways of social and cognitive development. In this study we see that there are several aspects of the changes in the learning environment that might account for the generational differences. One is the increase in the availability of secondary schools along with the requirement to attend in the Bedouin community in general. Another is that the environment of the schools increasingly includes the presence of school psychologists. In addition, those working in the schools as teachers and psychologists are increasingly members of the Bedouin community who themselves were mostly among the first generation to have completed high school and have gotten higher education degrees.

Education appears as a particularly significant factor in the mothers’ generation influencing changes in the perception of the psychology profession. The mothers’ generation is a bridge between the grandmothers and adolescence in playing a unique role in the change. In addition to the contribution of their own education, they have been exposed to the current educational system not only through their work as preschool assistants or preschool, primary, or secondary teachers; but, as parents of children in schools, they have had the opportunity to be exposed to the role of the psychologist. They see psychologists both from their perspective as colleagues in the school system and their perspective as consumers or potential consumers for their own children. Their education is a general factor in shifts from previous generations in values and understandings of the sources of knowledge (Abu Aleon et al., 2019; Weinstock, 2015). But, in addition, it is their exposure to education that has allowed them to work as assistants or teachers in the educational system, which, in turn, gave them the opportunity to be exposed to the role of the psychologist from several perspectives.

The mothers’ generation sees the side of the culture they came from and the values ​​in which they grew up with their mothers, which are expressed here by the grandmothers’ generation, as well as the side of the world of formal education which has exposed them to various types of knowledge, roles, and professions. In seeing different perspectives, they are able to manipulate and, to a degree, maintain adherence to both worlds. As appears in their responses to the dilemmas, they did so with great sensitivity and knew how to make judgments about courses of action as appropriate or not, given considerations of different contexts. They knew how to consider both worlds and even try to maintain the continuities between generations in a very smart and very sensitive way. They were assigned this role of bridging the generational approaches without choice. They learned it the hard way, through personal experience. With this experience, they could suggest what approach might be good for the next generation. They learned from and respected the perspective of the older generation and colored it with the knowledge they acquired through their own experience growing up in a society in transition in order to try to make it match the needs and situation of the next generation.

In considering the research (Abu-Asba, 2014; Dwairy, 1997, 1998) that specifies three streams of the attitudes toward utilizing mental health services—traditional, bi-cultural, and educated—that have developed within Arab society in Israel, this study brings to light nuances in these attitudes. When we talk about the mothers’ generation which could be considered bi-cultural in this scheme, we found that the mother’s expression is not necessary one of crisis. It reflects more their unique ability to deal with the tremendous and fast changes the society goes through. Even though they hold and are aware of traditional values, they still try at the same to find their way and their daughter’s way in this changing ecology. Their dilemma responses indicate that they prefer decisions that respect the knowledge possessed by the psychological profession, while also understanding what might be best for the daughter in her specific society.

The mothers’ generation endorsement of more Gesellschaft-adapted values and action appears motivated, at least in part, in thinking about the future of their daughters. Prior studies of intergenerational differences in context of social change (Abu Aleon et al., 2019) suggested that females in the Bedouin community shift earlier than males toward gender equality and independence, both because they have more to gain in this shift than men and because they are also thinking about the future of their daughters.

In this study we could see that the change and the shift has occurred to an even greater extent in the younger generation. The mothers’ generation expressed more Gesellschaft-adapted values toward psychological practice, while the younger generation appears to have internalized Gesellschaft-adapted values even more than did their mothers. The younger generations’ decisions did not reflect a large concern for upholding social norms as the determinant of the best course of action. Their responses reflected more their concern about what is appropriate for the individual and what is best to support the needs of the individual. This finding is consistent with Weinstock’s (2015) suggestion that, with more formal education, people’s epistemologies become oriented toward greater belief in autonomous decision-making and knowing, rather than decision-making and knowing having their source in Gemeinschaft-adapted norms.

Another meaningful generational difference was seen in the use of psychological language. The younger generation fluently used professional language when describing their perspective. In comparison with the other generations, the younger generation used formal psychological language in describing the problem that they were trying to address in the interview (e.g., in the transcript of L8 daughter’s response, the word "phobia" is not a translation from an Arabic word; it is the word—the Hebrew word is the same as the English word—that she actually used). This phenomenon seems to be an application of what Serpell (2017) calls “translanguaging” in which multilingual speakers use different languages in different contexts and such use reflects an emerging speech community. Translanguaging often occurs in colonized countries in which the colonizers’ language is used for official purposes and in institutions, while the indigenous language is the language of the home (Fishman, 1967). In this case, the terminology that the youth have learned from the internet, non-Arabic television, or in school is used in reference to a field and a way of thinking which has not been part of Bedouin society until recently. The use of a specialized language to discuss a world view informed by the individual-norms orientation of psychology captures how social change may produce different developmental pathways (Greenfield, 2009; Henrich, 2020).

Plurilingualism itself, which is more of a characteristic of the younger generation, likely leads to greater cognitive flexibility and different ways of describing and contextualizing the world (Serpell, 2017). The use of a different language to discuss behavioral issues, mental health, and help-seeking may have a specific impact on the developmental pathway of the youngest generation in the Bedouin community. Although Arabic is a rich language which can express psychological terms, Arabic speakers are not accustomed in using vernacular Arabic to express personal ideas or to discuss emotions. In contrast, English (or the Hebraicized equivalent) seems more appropriate in discussing the individual self which is central to a psychological orientation. For instance, Saudi Arabian students responding to an Arabic version of a self-efficacy scale reported lower self-efficacy than those responding to the same scale in English (Mulhem et al., 2018). Moreover, those with higher estimates of self-efficacy in the Arabic version reported lower positive emotions. This conflict did not appear among those responding to the English version. The use of the new, specialized language, which is not derived from the indigenous language, goes hand-in-hand with a developmental pathway emphasizing the self and individual needs over family needs and social norms as the basis of behavior. The adolescents’ use of language reflects this change. At the same time, the specialized language introduced by psychologists and other sources in school and, presumably, communications media, may have served to introduce a cultural tool allowing the adolescents to internalize the logic, concepts, and ways of thinking of a different cultural system (Vygotsky, 1987).

Whereas the use of psychological terms is found primarily among the adolescents, showing internalization of the knowledge and values of the profession and the issues that the psychologist deals with, there are also hints of this among the mothers, especially those with higher education. According to Abu Aleon et al. (2019), one of the main factors in the intergenerational shift in values toward gender equality and female independence is parental education. In this study, it seems that education plays a central role in shifting attitudes toward the use of psychological services.

Implications for the practice of psychology with Bedouin clients

The findings suggest that as psychological practice becomes more common in the society and its everyday institutions, the psychologist has a very significant task in adapting the work of psychology to the perspective of different generations. It is necessary to adapt the professional language to each generation in order to build a common discourse that allows for shared work and understanding at different levels.

For the older generation, the psychologist needs to reach out to market or to disseminate the psychologist’s work and adapt the service by finding a common language.

Given the evolving perceptions of psychological practice and the psychological self that correspond with the social changes in the community, and the fact that professional psychologists are part of the school framework, it is incumbent on the psychologist to help each generation adjust. The availability of school psychology within the Bedouin society and the accessibility of the professional is an important factor in changing the perception of the profession.

Limitations and future directions

In this article, we do not explore the specific effect of multiple ecological indicators of the shift from more Gemeinschaft to more Gesellschaft environments. This issue will be explored in another article that is in preparation. Another issue that we do not explore in this article are the psychological costs of adapting to a new ecology. This issue will also be explored in another article analyzing other scenario dilemmas from the full set of 19. Finally, we did not have enough participants from cities or unrecognized villages to draw conclusions about whether current differences in residence type were influencing responses.

Conclusion

In sum, the acceptance of psychological practice and knowledge and expression of interpersonal concerns were found higher among the younger generations. Grandmothers emphasized the society and the group while teenagers expressed individual concerns. Mothers, who were concerned with the individual in social context, appeared to play a unique role in this shift. Educated mothers, working in the educational sector, were child-centered, focusing on the individual needs of the children. While they were concerned with social norms, this was often expressed as the need to adhere to or work with social norms because that is what would be best for the child. Our findings support the conclusion that, as educational opportunity becomes part of the social ecology, views of psychological knowledge and practice become increasingly positive, reflecting Gesellschaft-adapted values and worldview.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, [MW], upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Sol Leshin Program for BGU-UCLA Academic Cooperation.