Research with populations exposed to violence and wars have grown in recent years; however, such efforts have tilted more toward trauma-focused psychiatric epidemiology. The present study attempted to investigate the nature of existential concerns, assumptive world, and alienation among Kashmiri youth exposed to collective violence. Participants, from 15 to 24 years old, were first verbally screened for exposure to collective violence and then interviewed in detail. Thematic analysis showed death anxiety, future anxiety, and limits on freedom as the major existential concerns among the participants. Similarly, their assumptive world included benevolence/nonbenevolence of people and world, self-worth, and optimism-pessimism about Kashmir and its situation. The major themes pertaining to their feelings of alienation were meaninglessness, social estrangement, political alienation, and national-identity alienation. Themes identified regarding exposure to collective violence were victimization, witnessing of violence, and direct-indirect exposure to violence. Overall, the results are in line with the prior findings reported in the literature pertaining to the Kashmiri context. However, some new dimensions peculiar to target population also emerged, and findings demonstrate a need for the theoretical model on exposure to collective violence. Public Significance StatementThis study advances the idea to investigate exposure to violence beyond trauma and found certain results-such as future anxiety, negative assumptions about people and world, and political and national-identity alienation-in the target population not originally suggested by theoretical models informing the selected variables.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2025 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.