Community Post-traumatic Growth: Israeli Ultra-Orthodox Coping with Coronavirus.

The present study sheds light on the phenomenon whereby groups experience adversity, following which they show signs of growth. We propose the conceptualization of post-traumatic growth as a phenomenon that also exists at the group level, "community post-traumatic growth" (CPTG). The concept of CPTG is explained using a case study on the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Israel following the first wave of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The study describes shared characteristics of Israeli ultra-Orthodox society and the crisis it experienced during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, both in terms of physiological features such as the relatively high proportion of affected people and in terms of psychological characteristics such as the shut-down of synagogues and yeshivas, and the perceived discrimination they experienced from the general population in Israel. The present study views the sense of discrimination as a traumatic factor at the group level. In total, 256 participants completed online questionnaires examining three hypotheses: (1) sense of discrimination (trauma) will be correlated with level of CPTG; (2) the level of identification with the ultra-Orthodox culture will be positively related to CPTG, while the level of identification with Israeli culture will be negatively correlated with CPTG; (3) the level of life satisfaction of the individual will be predicted by CPTG. The results supported the hypotheses and are discussed at length in the discussion section.

The coping of academic staff with an extreme situation: The transition from conventional teaching to online teaching.

The emergence of the COVID-19 virus has generated the greatest worldwide disruption of education systems (among others) in generations. In Israel, from the beginning of the pandemic, all universities and colleges quickly adopted an online education system, while the other educational systems did similarly, in part or in full. This study examines the impact of the involuntary immersion of students and instructors into digital learning environments due to the COVID-19 pandemic - the impact on the pedagogical practices, pedagogical conceptions, and inclinations toward pedagogical change of university and college instructors during the "Corona Related Teaching Situation" (CRTS). Our research followed a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative with quantitative components. The explanatory design is a two-phase mixed methods-approach design, which began with the collection and analysis of quantitative data and was followed by the subsequent collection and analysis of qualitative data. The current report places special emphasis on the qualitative components of the research. The major contribution of this article is the development of a typology based on a conceptual model that allows for the identification of three teacher profiles that emerged during the CRTS: Experienced teachers, Enthusiastic teachers, and Cautious teachers. The study found that the main variable affecting a teacher's fit into one of these profiles is the level of digital literacy before the crisis. Our typology can be applied to different crisis situations and can be useful for the training and development of university teachers in the field of digital literacy.

A motivational framework of acculturation.

A key distinction in motivational processes is between motivations and the means for pursuing motivations. Despite being a motivated process, existing models of acculturation do not make this distinction, neither empirically nor theoretically. A motivational framework that is informed by theories of goal constructs to understand the process of acculturation is proposed. This model is tested in two distinct samples comprising immigrants from the former Soviet Union to Israel (N = 239) as well as immigrants from Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh to Britain (N = 236). Results revealed that the motivation to preserve one's heritage culture and the motivation to adopt one's host culture were each uniquely associated with the respective means for doing so. Furthermore, outcomes in acculturation were determined by the match between acculturation motivations and acculturation means. These findings demonstrate the theoretical and practical implications of analyzing the process of acculturation using a motivational framework.

Reincarnation beliefs among Israeli Druze and the construction of a hard primordial identity.

Most of the literature on reincarnation among the Druze attempts to shed light on its history and on those who believe in it. In this paper, we will argue that the Druze's belief in reincarnation serves as one of the central components in defining their ethno-religious identity. Our study is based on an analysis of 30 semi-structured interviews with Israeli Druze university students. Findings suggest that the belief in reincarnation plays an important role in the lives of the Druze and it appears to serve as the most outstanding component in the young Druze' definition of their primordial identity.

Multi-group acculturation orientations in a changing context: Palestinian Christian Arab adolescents in Israel after the lost decade.

Grounded in a contextual approach to acculturation of minorities, this study examines changes in acculturation orientations among Palestinian Christian Arab adolescents in Israel following the "lost decade of Arab-Jewish coexistence." Multi-group acculturation orientations among 237 respondents were assessed vis-à-vis two majorities--Muslim Arabs and Israeli Jews--and compared to 1998 data. Separation was the strongest endorsed orientation towards both majority groups. Comparisons with the 1998 data also show a weakening of the Integration attitude towards Israeli Jews, and also distancing from Muslim Arabs. For the examination of the "Westernisation" hypothesis, multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) analyses of perceptions of Self and group values clearly showed that, after 10 years, Palestinian Christian Arabs perceive Israeli Jewish culture as less close to Western culture, and that Self and the Christian Arab group have become much closer, suggesting an increasing identification of Palestinian Christian Arab adolescents with their ethnoreligious culture. We discuss the value of a multi-group, multi-method, and multi-wave approach to the examination of the role of the political context in acculturation processes.

Inter-group and intra-group assertiveness: adolescents' social skills following cultural transition.

The goals of this study were to examine intra-group and inter-group assertiveness among adolescents, and to compare these two domains of assertiveness between cultural groups in Israel. Measures of intra-group and inter-group assertiveness were developed, and questionnaires were administrated to 441 immigrants from the Former Soviet Union (FSU), 242 immigrants from Ethiopia and 333 non-immigrants. Compared to non-immigrants, FSU and Ethiopian immigrants' inter-group assertiveness was lower. Girls reported higher levels of inter-group assertiveness than boys. Each of the immigrant groups rates itself as equally assertive as the non-immigrant group and more assertive than the other immigrant group. Also, a difference between inter-group and intra-group assertiveness was found among the FSU immigrants. It is argued that adolescents' assertiveness following cultural transition is associated with socio-cultural context, and the implications of this conclusion are discussed.