Help-Seeking and Internal Obstacles to Receiving Support in the Wake of Community Violence Exposure: The Case of Arab and Jewish Adolescents in Israel

Guterman, Neil B.; Haj‐Yahia, Muhammad M.; Vorhies, Vanessa; Ismayilova, Leyla; Leshem, B.

doi:10.1007/s10826-010-9355-x

Cited by 19 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Other studies carried out in Israel have found that more Israeli Arab than Jewish adolescents reported their intention to seek help from teachers and educational counselors [13], and more Israeli Arab adolescents exposed to frequent and severe acts of violence requested help from a mental health professional [19]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Help seeking in school by Israeli Arab minority adolescents with emotional and behavioral problems: results from the Galilee Study

Daeem

Mansbach-Kleinfeld

Farbstein

et al. 2016

Isr J Health Policy Res

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BackgroundMany distressed minority adolescents with little access to professional mental health services use teachers and school counselors as their main consultation sources. This paper presents data from the Galilee study on factors that may increase the probability of adolescents’ help-seeking in school and discusses the needed linkage between the school mental health services and those provided by other agencies, in the framework of the Mental Health Reform in Israel.MethodsThis cross-sectional survey included 1639, 9th grade students living in 5 Arab localities in the Galilee in northern Israel, representative of the Muslim and Druze populations. The study was carried out in two stages: in the screening stage, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was completed in the classroom. During the follow-up stage 704 students were selected and interviewed at home regarding service use in school and wellbeing at home. Their mothers were interviewed as well providing information on sociodemographic traits of the family. Total response rate was 69.3 % during the screening stage and 84.4 % during the follow-up. Students were categorized according to their SDQ scores and all students in the higher 25th percentile (high risk) and a simple systematic sample without replacement of those in the lower 75 % (low risk) were included in the follow-up study.ResultsSignificantly more high risk than low risk students reported having felt the need to seek professional help (14.0 and 6.5 % respectively) and more high risk than low risk consulted a school source (27.1 and 15.2 %, respectively). Bivariate analyses show that among Muslim adolescents more high risk than low risk consulted a school source (30 vs. 16.2 % respectively) and among high risk students more Muslim than Druze sought help from a school source (30 vs. 18 %). Higher consultation rates were found among adolescents who felt uncomfortable at home, than among those who felt very comfortable. Binary logistic regression showed that for high risk adolescents, only religion remained significantly associated with help-seeking in school: Muslim students were 2 times more likely to seek help than Druze students. In the low-risk group, students who do not feel comfortable at home were 3.3 times more likely to seek help than those who feel comfortable at home. The main sources of consultation for both risk groups were the school counselor and the grade teacher.ConclusionsA constellation of factors may be associated with help-seeking in school by minority Israeli Arab adolescents: they are students at higher risk for an emotional or behavioral disorder, they have more socio-economic hardship, they feel less comfortable at home and they are more likely to live in the larger Muslim cities. Adolescents with less family support and particularly those not classified as being at high risk, are more likely to seek help from school counselors and teachers. The school staff may need additional training to care for the mental health needs of students. There is a need to integr...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Help seeking in school by Israeli Arab minority adolescents with emotional and behavioral problems: results from the Galilee Study

Daeem

Mansbach-Kleinfeld

Farbstein

et al. 2016

Isr J Health Policy Res

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“…Of the limited research available where racial and ethnic differences are explored in adolescents, CVE and psychological distress are found to differ across racial and ethnic subgroups (Stein, Jaycox, Katoaoka, Rhodes, & Vestal, ). For example, African American and Latino adolescents were found to be significantly more likely to witness violence compared with Caucasian adolescents independent of socioeconomic status (Crouch, Hanson, Saunders, Kilpatrick, & Resnick, ), and Arab adolescents in Israel were significantly more likely to have experienced CVE (both witnessed and through personal victimization) and to have been exposed to more severe types of violence (e.g., witnessing murder; being shot and wounded) compared with Jewish adolescents (Guterman, Haj‐Yahia, Vorhies, Ismayilova, & Leshem, ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Adolescent Community Violence Exposure and Posttraumatic Stress Cross‐culturally in Israel

Klodnick

Guterman

Haj‐Yahia

et al. 2013

Journal Community Psychology

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Adolescent community violence exposure (CVE) has been linked to posttraumatic stress (PTS) and has been found to vary by race and ethnicity. Little is known about the relationship between adolescent CVE and PTS across ethnic groups in an international context. Arab and Jewish high school students (n = 1571) in Israel completed self‐report questionnaires. Jewish adolescents (n = 821) witnessed more community violence, while Arab adolescents (n = 750) were more likely to victimized in the community and endorse higher levels of PTS. Ethnicity was found to be a significant predictor of PTS when controlling for CVE using hierarchical multiple regression (accounting for 2% of the variance in PTS). Ethnic affiliation did not moderate the relationship between CVE and PTS. These findings add to the small body of literature exploring cross‐cultural differences in CVE and associated psychological distress. Further investigation of CVE and mental health cross‐ethnically is warranted given the disparities in CVE and PTS rates.

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“…Interestingly, Palestinian boys living in Israel reported higher helpseeking rates than girls (Guterman et al, 2010). Similar help seeking patterns by Palestinians from different environments could imply the involvement of socio-cultural factors, an assumption supported by previous findings, suggesting that Palestinians are more open to seeking mental health care than other Arab populations (Al-Krenawi et al, 2009).…”

Section: Gender Differences In Help Seeking Ratesmentioning

confidence: 59%

“…Seeking help conforms to the female social stereotype that includes dependence and emotional expression (Eagly, 2009), while men are expected to be self-dependent and seeking help could threat their masculinity (Galdas, Cheater, & Marshall, 2005). Gender roles and stereotypes are culture dependent, and can account for the variations in the effect of gender on help seeking in different cultures (Guterman, Haj-Yahia, Vorhies, Ismayilova, & Leshem, 2010;Sherer & Karnieli-Miller, 2007). Seeking mental help carries the stigma of shame, and the fear of stigma is very potent among Arabs due to cultural sensitivity, explaining the reluctance of Arab of both genders to seek formal help (Al-Krenawi & Graham, 2000;Al-Krenawi et al, 2009).…”

Section: Gendermentioning

confidence: 99%

The characteristics of help seeking among Palestinian adolescents following exposure to community violence

Leshem¹,

Haj‐Yahia

Guterman³

2015

Children and Youth Services Review

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Help-Seeking and Internal Obstacles to Receiving Support in the Wake of Community Violence Exposure: The Case of Arab and Jewish Adolescents in Israel

Cited by 19 publications

References 43 publications

Help seeking in school by Israeli Arab minority adolescents with emotional and behavioral problems: results from the Galilee Study

Help seeking in school by Israeli Arab minority adolescents with emotional and behavioral problems: results from the Galilee Study

Exploring Adolescent Community Violence Exposure and Posttraumatic Stress Cross‐culturally in Israel

The characteristics of help seeking among Palestinian adolescents following exposure to community violence

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