Coping and mental health outcomes among israelis living with the chronic threat of terrorism.

Dickstein, Benjamin D.; Schorr, Yonit; Stein, Nathan R.; Krantz, Lillian; Solomon, Zahava; Litz, Brett T.

doi:10.1037/a0024927

Cited by 29 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 37 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Studies of terrorism and natural disasters in general population samples have found short-term increases in mean population alcohol consumption (DiMaggio et al, 2009; Keyes et al, 2011), but have rarely found increases in alcohol disorders (North et al, 2004, 2010, 2002). Small studies of civilian samples find that exposure to war and terrorism are associated with psychological distress (Dickstein et al, 2012; Hobfoll et al, 2012), but wartime experiences as risk factors for alcohol use disorders in civilian populations remain largely unexplored.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exposure to the Lebanon War of 2006 and effects on alcohol use disorders: The moderating role of childhood maltreatment

Keyes

Shmulewitz

Greenstein

et al. 2014

Drug and Alcohol Dependence

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Civilian populations now comprise the majority of casualties in modern warfare, but effects of war exposure on alcohol disorders in the general population are largely unexplored. Accumulating literature indicates that adverse experiences early in life sensitize individuals to increased alcohol problems after adult stressful experiences. However, child and adult stressful experiences can be correlated, limiting interpretation. We examine risk for alcohol disorders among Israelis after the 2006 Lebanon War, a fateful event outside the control of civilian individuals and uncorrelated with childhood experiences. Further, we test whether those with a history of maltreatment are at greater risk for an alcohol use disorder after war exposure compared to those without such a history. Methods Adult household residents selected from the Israeli population register were assessed with a psychiatric structured interview; the analyzed sample included 1306 respondents. War measures included self-reported days in an exposed region. Results Among those with a history of maltreatment, those in a war-exposed region for 30+ days had 5.3 times the odds of subsequent alcohol disorders compared to those exposed 0 days (95%C.I. 1.01–27.76), controlled for relevant confounders; the odds ratio for those without this history was 0.5 (95%C.I. 0.25–1.01); test for interaction: X2 = 5.28, df = 1, P = 0.02. Conclusions Experiencing a fateful stressor outside the control of study participants, civilian exposure to the 2006 Lebanon War, is associated with a heightened the risk of alcohol disorders among those with early adverse childhood experiences. Results suggest that early life experiences may sensitize individuals to adverse health responses later in life.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exposure to the Lebanon War of 2006 and effects on alcohol use disorders: The moderating role of childhood maltreatment

Keyes

Shmulewitz

Greenstein

et al. 2014

Drug and Alcohol Dependence

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Recent research by Dickstein et al (2012) on coping strategies with continuous traumatic stress (e.g., terrorism) of Israelis found that substance use coping, denial/disengagement and social support seeking strategies were all associated with psychiatric symptoms, and the only coping strategy found to be protective strategy was acceptance and positive reframing (see also Nuttman-Shwartz & Dekel, 2009). Positive reappraisal, being optimistic, and possessing a futuristic orientation have been significantly negatively correlated with AA and depression (e.g., Kira et al, 2011a).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advances in Continuous Traumatic Stress Theory: Traumatogenic Dynamics and Consequences of Intergroup Conflict: The Palestinian Adolescents Case

Kira¹,

Ashby²,

Lewandowski³

et al. 2013

PSYCH

104

126

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The goal of this paper is to advance the theory of chronic and traumatic stressors that have been identified as type III traumas in the trauma developmentally-based framework (DBTF) and use it to investigate the mental and physical health effects of such traumas on impacted individuals and groups. Participants were 438 Palestinian adolescents from the West Bank who had been exposed to a number of types of trauma including chronic intergroup violence. The age of participants in the sample ranged from 12 to 19 with a mean of 15.66 and SD of 1.43. The sample included 54.6% males, 52.3% resided in cities, 44.4% resided in villages, while 3.2% resided in refugee camps. The study utilized a measure for cumulative traumas that is based on the DBTF and measures of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), cumulative trauma related disorders (CTD), depression, anxiety, collective annihilation anxiety (AA), identity salience, and fear of death. The results of partial correlation and path analyses indicated that continuous traumatic stress was a significant predictor of mental health. The analyses also indicated that poverty predicted identity salience and AA that mediated their negative effects on physical and mental health of Palestinian adolescents. The relevance of these results to peace, social and clinical psychology was discussed.

show abstract

“…Drinking appears to be a social activity, rather than a solitary one (Bloomfield, Stockwell, Gmel, & Rehn, 2003). Drinking in Israelis may not function as a coping mechanism in the same way as in the U.S. (Bleich et al, 2003; Dickstein et al, 2012), and may also differ by mental health factors (Bleich, Gelkopf, Melamed, & Solomon, 2006; Kane et al, 2014). In other societies, individuals experiencing stressful past or terrorist events were found to drink more alcohol, including in U.S. studies of the effects of September 11 th (Richman et al, 2008) and the effects of war on returning veterans (Benyamini & Solomon, 2005).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Explaining the frequency of alcohol consumption in a conflict zone: Jews and Palestinians in Israel

Massey

Chartier

Stebbins

et al. 2015

Addictive Behaviors

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Experiencing stress and exposure to terrorism may have an adverse effect on health risk behaviors. Few studies have examined alcohol use among adults living in Israel under chronic, stressful terrorism-related conditions. In this study, we examined the relationships of demographics, past stressful events, and terrorism exposure to the frequency of alcohol use and the mediating roles of depressive and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. We used three waves of data from a 2007–2008 nationally representative sample of Jewish and Palestinian adults in Israel. We assessed the number of past stressful events, in addition to direct and indirect exposure to terrorism. Results indicated that past stressful events and exposure to terrorism were not directly associated with alcohol use, but were indirectly associated and mediated by depressive and PTSD symptomology. Mental health symptoms were differentially associated with alcohol use. More frequent drinking was mediated by higher levels of depression, including for women and Palestinians; however, PTSD symptom severity was related to less frequent drinking. Mental health may play a prominent role in the frequency of alcohol use among adults exposed to terrorism in Israel. Alcohol use, as a coping mechanism, may differ by demographic characteristics (gender and ethnicity) and psychological symptomology for adults living in a conflict zone in Israel.

show abstract

Coping and mental health outcomes among israelis living with the chronic threat of terrorism.

Cited by 29 publications

References 37 publications

Exposure to the Lebanon War of 2006 and effects on alcohol use disorders: The moderating role of childhood maltreatment

Exposure to the Lebanon War of 2006 and effects on alcohol use disorders: The moderating role of childhood maltreatment

Advances in Continuous Traumatic Stress Theory: Traumatogenic Dynamics and Consequences of Intergroup Conflict: The Palestinian Adolescents Case

Explaining the frequency of alcohol consumption in a conflict zone: Jews and Palestinians in Israel

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About