We investigated the prevalence of risk behaviors among Israeli adolescents (tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption, drug use) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Associations between different risk behaviors were examined and so was whether specific characteristics could predict risk behaviors in adolescents. The study consisted of 1020 Israeli adolescents aged 15–18. Study subjects completed an online survey between the first and second lockdowns in Israel (April 2020 to September 2020). Participants reported the frequency at which they engaged in four different risky behaviors: general risky behavior, tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption (binge drinking), and cannabis use. The most prevalent risky behavior in the sample was binge drinking (33.8%). The four measured risky behaviors were significantly correlated. Among participants who had previously engaged in a risky behavior assessed, most did not change the behavior frequency during the pandemic. All independent variables (sociodemographic characteristics, family support, and emotional, health excluding friends’ support, physical activity volume, and coronavirus restrictions) were significantly different between participants engaging vs. not engaging in risky behaviors. Our findings suggest that family support is one of the most influential factors in preventing risky behavior during the pandemic, and they emphasize the importance of family-based interventions with children and adolescents from elementary to high school.

English language skills are considered of great value in the labor market and in the field of research. As such, learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) becomes of great importance, especially for foreign students and employees working in international settings. The goal of the present study was to explore students’ self-efficacy in language learning (LSE), in contrast with general self-efficacy (GSE) and effort (EF) as predictors of students’ reading comprehension performance in English. Moreover, we hypothesized that effort mediates the relationship between LSE and reading comprehension performance. We explored the EFL learners who enrolled in academic English courses during a period of three months, one academic semester. Using a longitudinal design, at Time 1, the sample of 265 participants completed three questionnaires: GSE, LSE and EF scales. At Time 2, reading comprehension test was given to the participants who had completed the questionnaires previously. Results indicated that LSE, in contrast with GSE, is positively correlated with reading comprehension performance. Furthermore, the data showed that LSE is positively correlated with effort, and that effort is positively correlated with reading comprehension performance. Findings revealed that effort mediates the relationship between LSE and reading comprehension performance. Thus, our study contributes to the development of more effective teaching methods and provides EFL teachers the necessary tools to predict and enhance students’ achievements in the field. Implications and limitations for future research are discussed.

Volunteering can serve as a protective factor against substance abuse. Yet, it is unclear whether volunteering in specific community organizations, such as emergency services, promotes or protects against substance use. We aimed to (1) describe community volunteering characteristics among adolescents; (2) investigate differences in the prevalence of substance use according to community volunteering type; and (3) determine whether volunteering type was a predictor of substance use. We analyzed data from the 2018–2019 Health Behavior in School‐aged Children survey among Israeli adolescents aged 11–17 years (N = 3972). Most participants (N = 2452; 61.7%) did not volunteer at all, 27.1% (N = 1077) volunteered in youth movements/councils, and 11.2% (N = 443) volunteered in community emergency services. In comparison to the emergency services group, there was a higher volunteering frequency among the youth movements/councils group. Of the three groups (nonvolunteering, volunteering in youth movements/councils, and volunteering in community emergency services), those in the community emergency services group reported a significantly higher prevalence of weekly alcohol use, lifetime cannabis use, and new psychoactive drug use, while no significant between‐group differences were observed in smoking tobacco prevalence. Volunteering in the community emergency services has been linked to substance use, requiring the development of intervention programs by the school staff, before their active volunteering (e.g., guidance on emotional stress and substance abuse). Also, teachers can act as a protective factor for students, and identify emotional distress and anxiety in their students to prevent substance abuse. Furthermore, emergency services workers and instructors should also be aware of the higher risk of substance use among volunteering youth and should be given tools to better collaborate with parents and teachers in dealing with it.

This study investigated the relationship between biopsychosocial characteristics (age, sex, self-rated health, mental health, parental socio-economic status, family support, teacher support, peer support) and alcohol consumption (weekly alcohol consumption in the past three months, drunkenness in the past three months, and binge drinking in the past month) in adolescents during a crisis event. The study consisted of 1019 Israeli students aged 11–18. Questionnaires were distributed to the students between May and July 2021 during school. Teacher support among those who presented weekly alcohol consumption and drunkenness in the past three months was lower than in those who did not present such behavior. The effects of parental support differed only for drunkenness behavior, with those who engaged in drunken behavior presenting significantly less parental support. Our findings suggest that teacher support and mental health are the two major factors in preventing risky alcohol consumption behavior during a crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, among adolescents.

Professional identity development in higher education and its implications is a growing interest in the literature. Research indicates that the professional identity of academic lecturers has been unstable and influenced by a variety of personal and contextual factors. With a lack of a clear definition of professional identity in literature, we composed The Professional Identity COVID Scale (PI-COVID) specifically designed to measure lecturers’ professional identity in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. The items focused on three components: occupational security, academic skills, and combining teaching and research. The purpose of the present study was to examine the associations between lecturers’ age, years of seniority, academic rank, and work permanence on the professional identity of academic lecturers post-COVID-19 in Israel. Participants were 95 academic lecturers teaching in universities and colleges. Using self-report questionnaires, participants filled the PI-COVID scale. Results showed that age is negatively and significantly associated with PI-COVID. Moreover, seniority years, academic rank, and work permanence are associated with more COVID-19 challenges. Findings showed that lecturers without work permanence and with lower academic rank reported higher occupational insecurity during the pandemic, which emphasizes the vulnerability of younger lecturers and their need for confidence and stability, especially during a crisis event. Thus, our study contributes to the existing literature by better understanding the post-COVID-19 professional identity of academic lecturers. Implications and limitations for future research are discussed.