Mitigation of Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms From Chronic Terror Attacks on Southern Israel

Abstract

Since 2000, the southern Israeli town of Sderot and neighboring rural region, Otef Aza, have been frequently exposed to nearly identical terror attacks by Hamas. While only a small minority of Otef Aza residents have been diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), more than a third of Sderot residents have been so diagnosed. Factors such as social cohesion and ideology may be the unique factors that protect Otef Aza residents from PTSD; however, a gap in the literature exists as to how these same factors might affect PTSD symptomology in Sderot residents. Orthodox religiosity has also been associated with reduced PTSD symptoms in Sderot; however, previous research on religiosity analyzed demographic characteristics and did not use a measure specifically assessing dimensions of religiosity. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the impact of community, ideology, and religiosity on PTSD symptoms among Sderot residents. A survey was distributed to a convenience sample of Sderot residents that 118 participants successfully completed. Standard multiple linear regression revealed that ideology, intrinsic religiosity, nonorganizational religious activity, and fulfillment of needs dimension of sense of community were significant predictors of PTSD symptomatology. Study findings suggested protective factors which could help a large portion of the population. The implications for positive social change for Sderot residents include increased positive interactions, sense of well-being, meaning, and value in their lives.

Quantitative Forecasting of Risk for PTSD Using Ecological Factors: A Deep Learning Application

“…Consistent with previous researchers (Gelkopf et al, 2012;Mor & Dardeck, 2017;Stein et al, 2013) who examined prevalence of PTSD symptoms among Sderot, Israel, residents, 354 (27.4%) of the 1,290 study participants reported they had been diagnosed with PTSD.…”

“…The target population for this study included residents of southern Israel who have been exposed to terror attacks since 2000 (Gelkopf et al, 2012;Mor & Dardeck, 2017;Stein et al, 2013). Participants were recruited voluntarily in southern Israel.…”

Predicting Israeli Public Support for Capital Punishment: Crime Type and Severity, Offender, Observer, and Victim Characteristics

“…This study intends to expand knowledge on attitudes toward capital punishment within societies that experience chronic terrorism by focusing on Israeli society. The chronic state of terrorism in Israel claimed the lives of hundreds (Israel Magen David Adom Ambulance Service, 2016), caused a significant long-term psychological effect on citizens (Mor & Dardeck, 2017) and raised the question of capital punishment for terrorists. Since most of the studies were conducted in the U.S., we based our literature review and hypotheses on these studies.…”

A Model for Predicting Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder due to Exposure to Chronic Political Violence: Big Five Personality Traits, Ego-Resiliency, and Coping

“…These attacks cause death, injury, substantial property loss, and disruption of daily life. As such, the attacks and the continuous threat of attacks have yielded significant long-term psychological stress, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) ( Mor & Dardeck, 2017 ; Nuttman-Shwartz & Shoval-Zuckerman, 2016 ).…”