"I Have to Make Sure She Is Not Sad": Children's Perceptions of Their Mothers' Experiences in Shelters for Battered Women.

A qualitative study examined children's subjective perception of their mother's situation during their stay in shelters for battered women (SBW). Thirty-two children, aged 7-12 years, who were staying with their mothers in SBWs participated in this study. Thematic analysis revealed the following two core themes: children's perceptions and insights, and feelings that were related to their perceptions. The findings are discussed in light of the concepts of exposure to IPV as a lived trauma, and re-exposure to violence in new contexts, and the role of the relationship with the abused mother in shaping the child's well-being.

Exposure to Parental Violence During Childhood and Later Psychological Distress Among Arab Adults in Israel: The Role of Gender and Sense of Coherence.

Exposure to parental violence in childhood is a significant predictor of psychological distress in adulthood. Factors at the individual level may explain the variance in psychological distress among adults exposed to parental violence. The current study examined the effect of exposure to different forms (i.e., physical violence and psychological aggression) and different patterns of parental violence (i.e., witnessing interparental violence, experiencing parental violence) on later psychological distress. The mediating role of sense of coherence (SOC) and the moderating role of gender in this relationship were also examined. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 604 married Arab adults in Israel (age = 20-60, M = 33.5, SD = 6.52) using a retrospective, self-administered questionnaire. Results indicate a significant positive relationship between all forms and types of parental violence explored in the current study with levels of psychological distress. Furthermore, exposure to parental violence correlated negatively with SOC, and low levels of SOC predicted higher levels of psychological distress. SOC was found to partially mediate the relationship between exposure to parental violence and psychological distress. Gender differences were found only with regard to experiencing physical violence as a predictor of psychological distress, indicating that the relationship between these variables is stronger in females. These results highlight the importance of SOC as a personal resource and its role in promoting psychological wellbeing. Healthcare practitioners should be aware of possible gender differences in psychological distress among Arab adults exposed to parental violence.

The relationship between national racism and child abuse among Palestinians in Israel: The moderating role of coping strategies.

BACKGROUND: Exposure to ethnic- and race-related stress (e.g., racism, racial discrimination, and micro-aggression) can impair parenting and parent-child relations. OBJECTIVE: This study examines the exposure of Palestinian parents in Israel to two levels of racism, interpersonal racism (IPR) and perceived collective racism (PCR), and the relationship of each to perpetrating child abuse. Further, the study examines the moderating role of coping strategies on these relationships. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: The study was conducted among a systematic semi-random sample of 770 Palestinian parents in Israel (500 mothers and 270 fathers) aged 21-66 (M = 38.7, SD = 7.84). METHODS: Participants filled out a self-administered questionnaire that included items from several instruments. RESULTS: Regression analysis revealed that PCR and avoidance coping significantly predict psychological, R2 = 0.072, p < 0.001, and physical, R2 = 0.088, p < 0.001, child abuse. Interestingly, the moderating effects of coping strategies varied somewhat. High avoidance-coping (e.g., distraction, denial, withdrawal) worsened PCR's effect on child abuse, while low avoidance-coping mitigated it but augmented IPR's effect on child abuse. Further, frequently using problem-oriented coping (e.g., analyzing the situation) worsened IPR's effect on child abuse. Child abuse risk increased when parents experienced high PCR levels and frequently used avoidance coping. Likewise, it increased when they experienced high IPR levels and used either high problem-oriented coping or low avoidance-coping. CONCLUSIONS: Understanding when coping strategies buffer the impact of racism on the parent-child relationship and when they exacerbate it can contribute to interventions with parents experiencing IPR and PCR.

Childhood exposure to parental violence, attachment insecurities, and intimate partner violence perpetration among Arab adults in Israel.

BACKGROUND: Extensive research supports the existence of a "cycle of violence" that links exposure to parental violence during childhood (i.e., witnessing interparental violence and child maltreatment) with intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration. However, there is still a need to explore the mechanisms through which early exposure to parental violence may foster IPV perpetration during adulthood. OBJECTIVE: In this study, we examine the mediating role of attachment insecurities and gender differences in the relationship between exposure to parental violence during childhood and IPV perpetration during adulthood. METHOD, PARTICIPANTS, AND SETTING: We conducted a cross-sectional survey among a representative sample of 604 married Arab adults (M age = 33.5, SD = 6.52; 50.1 % women) in Israel using a self-administered questionnaire. RESULTS: Exposure to physical violence, both as a victim and indirectly as a witness in childhood, was found positively correlated with adulthood IPV perpetration, with effect sizes ranging from weak (f2 = 0.01) to moderate (f2 = 0.15). Further, attachment-related avoidance was found to mediate the association between witnessing interparental physical violence and IPV perpetration. Gender differences were found in this relationship, with a stronger association indicated among male participants than among females. CONCLUSION: Exposure to physical violence may be understood as a risk factor for IPV perpetration directly and indirectly through the development of attachment-related avoidance.

Association between exposure to political violence and intimate-partner violence in the occupied Palestinian territory: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Intimate-partner violence might increase during and after exposure to collective violence. We assessed whether political violence was associated with male-to-female intimate-partner violence in the occupied Palestinian territory. METHODS: A nationally representative, cross-sectional survey was done between Dec 18, 2005, and Jan 18, 2006, by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. 4156 households were randomly selected with a multistage random cluster design, from which 3815 ever-married women aged 15-64 years were identified. We restricted our analysis to presently married women (n=3510, 92% participation rate), who completed a short version of the revised conflict tactics scales and exposure to political violence inventory. Exposure to political violence was characterised as the husband's direct exposure, his indirect exposure via his family's experiences, and economic effects of exposure on the household. We used adjusted multinomial logistic regression models to estimate odds ratios (ORs) for association between political violence and intimate-partner violence. FINDINGS: Political violence was significantly related to higher odds of intimate-partner violence. ORs were 1.89 (95% CI 1.29-2.76) for physical and 2.23 (1.49-3.35) for sexual intimate-partner violence in respondents whose husbands were directly exposed to political violence compared with those whose husbands were not directly exposed. For women whose husbands were indirectly exposed, ORs were 1.61 (1.25-2.07) for physical and 1.97 (1.49-2-60) for sexual violence, compared with those whose husbands were not indirectly exposed. Economic effects of exposure were associated with increased odds of intimate-partner violence in the Gaza Strip only. INTERPRETATION: Because exposure to political violence is associated with increased odds of intimate-partner violence, and exposure to many traumas is associated with poor health, a range of violent exposures should be assessed when establishing the need for psychosocial interventions in conflict settings.

"Pay Attention to Me": Children's Subjective Perceptions of the Process of Leaving Home With Their Mothers to Shelters for Battered Women.

Extensive research has been conducted on the effects of children's exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV). Nonetheless, there is a dearth of research on children's subjective perception of the process of leaving their home with their mother to shelters for battered women. Based on thematic analysis of in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 32 Israeli 7- to 12-year-old children, the results revealed the following three main themes: violence against the mother in general, the way they left for the shelter, and the reasons and circumstances of leaving the home and community. The results are discussed in light of the cognitive-structural framework.

The relationship between exposure of Palestinian youth to community violence and internalizing and externalizing symptoms: Do gender and social support matter?

BACKGROUND: Youth exposure to community violence (ECV) in the Palestinian society is an alarming problem. Yet, there is serious scarcity of research on its mental health consequences. OBJECTIVES: The study examined the relationships between youth ECV and internalizing and externalizing symptoms as well as the moderating and mediating effects of gender and support from family and teachers on these relationships. PARTICIPANTS, SETTING, AND METHOD: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among a systematic random sample of 1930 Palestinian junior and senior high school pupils (912 boys, 1018 girls, aged 12-19-year- old), using a self-administered questionnaire. RESULTS: The results revealed that the more Palestinian youth were exposed to community violence (CV) the more they demonstrated internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Palestinian boys who were victims of CV reported higher levels of externalizing symptoms, while girls reported higher levels of internalizing symptoms. Adolescents with higher levels of family support and teacher support reported lower levels of internalizing and externalizing symptoms. We have also found that gender can moderate the effects of CV victimization on internalizing symptoms and that family support can mediates the relationship between CV victimization and internalizing symptoms and moderate the relationships between ECV (both victimization and witnessing) and externalizing symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: The moderating and mediating effects of gender and social support on the relationship between ECV and mental health consequences are discussed. The implications of the results for future research and for prevention and intervention as well as the strengths and limitations of the study are also discussed.

Exposure to Family Violence in Childhood, Self-Efficacy, and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms in Young Adulthood.

This study aimed to examine the relationship of exposure to family violence (i.e., experiencing parental physical violence [PH] and psychological aggression [PA] and witnessing interparental PH and PA) during childhood and adolescence with posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) during young adulthood. In addition, the mediating role of self-efficacy in this relationship was investigated. Data were collected from a convenience sample of 516 university and college students in Israel (90.7% female and 9.3% male; Mage = 24.9, SD = 2.7). The results revealed that experiencing parental violence and witnessing interparental violence during childhood and adolescence were associated with high levels of current PTSS. The results also indicate that experiencing parental violence was associated with lower levels of self-efficacy, whereas no such significant relationship was found between witnessing interparental violence and self-efficacy. Furthermore, a negative relationship was found between self-efficacy and PTSS. In addition, the results show a partial mediation effect of self-efficacy only on the relationship between experiencing parental violence and PTSS. The findings are interpreted in light of Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory. The strengths and limitations of the study as well as implications for future research are discussed.

Palestinian Adolescents' Prolonged Exposure to Political Violence, Self- Esteem, and Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms.

The goal of this study was to understand the relation between adolescents' long-term exposure to political violence (EPV) and post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). We examined the relations among EPV, PTSS, and self-esteem to determine whether self-esteem could buffer the effects of EPV on PTSS. A systematic cluster random sample of 2,934 Palestinian adolescent boys and girls in the West Bank area of the Palestinian Authority and in East Jerusalem participated in a study using a self-administered questionnaire. Multiple regression analysis showed that the more Palestinian youth were exposed to political violence during the last year and during previous years, the more they exhibited PTSS and its three manifestations, that is, avoidance, intrusion, and arousal. In addition, EPV showed effects on PTSS after controlling for sociodemographic variables and self-esteem. Girls and residents of the West Bank reported more PTSS than boys and residents of East Jerusalem, respectively. Higher levels of EPV correlated with lower levels of self-esteem, and children with relatively low self-esteem were likely to report more PTSS than children with high self-esteem. Hence, the correlations between participants' EPV and some of the PTSS were found to be partially dependent on the levels of their self-esteem, indicating moderating and mediating effects for self-esteem on the relation between degree of EPV and PTSS. The limitations of the study and implications for future research are discussed.

The Relationship Between Exposure to Violence in the Family of Origin During Childhood, Psychological Distress, and Perpetrating Violence in Intimate Relationships Among Male University Students.

Witnessing or experiencing violence early in childhood is a significant risk factor for later perpetration of intimate partner violence (IPV) by men against women. Despite a large body of research on the topic, there is a need for more specific information about how differing patterns of family violence might pose distinct risks of later mental health problems and violence perpetration. Using a self-administered questionnaire, a cross-sectional survey was conducted among 745 male university students in Israel (age = 21-43, M = 25.56, SD = 3.172) to examine the effects of their exposure to family violence (i.e., parent-to-child psychological aggression [PA] and physical violence [PV] and witnessing interparental PA and PV) on their use of IPV. This study also examined whether psychological distress mediates the relationship between family violence exposure (witnessing or experiencing) and later IPV perpetration. Results indicate that experiencing PA and PV in childhood and current psychological distress predict significantly current IPV perpetration. Results also revealed that psychological distress mediates only the relations between participants experiencing parental violence and their PA against intimate partners. However, results showed that higher rates of participants witnessing interparental violence correlate significantly with lower rates of their PV against intimate partners; this relationship was not mediated by their psychological distress. It was also found that experiencing parental violence has significant direct and indirect positive effect on participants' PV against intimate partners. The limitations of the study and the implications of its results are discussed.

Divorce is a part of my life... resilience, survival, and vulnerability: young adults' perception of the implications of parental divorce.

A qualitative study among 22 young adults (20-25 years old) whose parents divorced during their childhood was conducted in Israel, using semi-structured, in-depth, open-ended interviews. Qualitative data analysis led to identification of three profiles, aiming at a grounded theoretical conceptualization. Three core themes were identified: the centrality of the family; short- and long-term implications of parental divorce and its relations to supportive coping resources; and perspective at young adulthood. Further analysis led to typifying participants by three profiles, which represent the grounded theoretical conceptualizations: resilience, survival, and vulnerability. The most prominent difference among the profiles was the relationships between participants and their parents, and their perception of ongoing parental responsibility. A thorough discussion of the results and their implications for future research, theory development, and practice are presented.

On the Lived Experience of Sex Offenders' Therapists: Their Perceptions of Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Consequences and Patterns of Coping.

In the last two decades, there has been a growing understanding that the therapeutic encounter with sex offenders takes a cost and has consequences on therapists. Despite the increasing research on the consequences of treating sex offenders, these studies in fact, have merely described the consequences, without providing an outlook for how therapists cope with them. The study presented in this article was part of a larger qualitative research project conducted among social workers, using in-depth semi-structured interviews. Emphasis is placed on therapists' perceptions of the intrapersonal and interpersonal consequences they experience from treating sex offenders, as well as the strategies they use to cope with these consequences. The study's central findings concern the therapists' perception of the intrapersonal consequences, which included two levels: primary responses and cumulative responses, and their perception of the interpersonal consequences that included their parenting relationships, intimate relationships, their attitude toward others (strangers and acquaintances), loss of their quality of life, and further positive consequences. The findings indicated a sequence and integrated use of the strategies to cope with the consequences. The results are discussed in light of the theoretical framework of Lazarus and Folkman's stress and coping theory. The limitations of the study as well as its implications for future research are discussed.

The relationship between exposure to family violence in childhood and post-traumatic stress symptoms in young adulthood: The mediating role of social support.

BACKGROUND: Extensive research has examined the relationship between exposure to family violence and its long-term mental health effects. Social support has been found to moderate this relationship, but there is a dearth of research on its mediating role. OBJECTIVES: The article presents the results of a study on the relationship between witnessing interparental violence and experiencing parental violence during childhood and adolescence on the one hand, and post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) during young adulthood on the other. In addition, the article presents results on the role of social support as a mediator in this relationship. METHOD, PARTICIPANTS, AND SETTING: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 516 Israeli university and college students (90.7% female, and 9.3% male; M age = 24.9, SD = 2.7) using a retrospective, self-administered questionnaire. RESULTS: The results revealed that exposure to each pattern of family violence (i.e., witnessing interparental violence and experiencing parental violence) predicted higher levels of PTSS. Furthermore, social support was found to partially mediate the relationship between exposure to family violence during childhood and adolescence and current PTSS as well as its four symptoms, i.e., depression, sleep disturbance, dissociation, and anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the current study highlight the important role of social support in the association between adversities experienced early in life and young adulthood outcomes. The findings are interpreted on the basis of Conservation of Resources Theory (Hobfoll et al., 1990), which served as the conceptual framework for the study. The limitations of the study and implications for future research are discussed.

Issues in intervention with battered women in collectivist societies.

Over the past three decades, several models for individual and group intervention with battered women have been developed. The common assumption underlying all of these models is that violence and abuse are never appropriate in an intimate relationship, and that battered women have a basic right to safety, which is not negotiable. Because almost all of those models were developed in the individualistic contexts of Western societies, some questions and concerns have been raised as to their suitability for intervention with battered women in collectivist contexts. In this article, we explore the characteristics of collectivist societies based on the conceptual framework of Triandis, Brislin, and Hui, (1988) which focuses on five dimensions: the self, attitudes, values, activities, and behaviors. Furthermore, we explore each of those dimensions and their relevance to various aspects of wife abuse in collectivist societies, such as the way that battered women cope with violence against them, and possibilities for professional intervention.

Attitudes of Jordanian society toward wife abuse.

The authors conducted an exploratory study among a convenience sample of 260 Jordanian men and women, using self-administered open and closed questions to examine the participants' approach toward wife abuse. In general, there was high awareness of wife abuse and the different types of abuse (mainly physical and psychological), a general tendency to oppose wife abuse, a tendency to blame the victim for abuse, and a lesser tendency to blame the abuse on the husband, marital problems, as well as familial and societal conditions. There was also a strong tendency to consider wife abuse a personal and familial issue rather than a social and legal problem. Therefore, the preferred method for coping with wife abuse and violence was the expectation that the abused wife should change her behavior and assume responsibility to change her husband followed by resorting to informal agents (family or community or religious figures). Less preferred coping methods included confronting the husband and expressing desire to break up or separate and resorting to formal agents (social welfare programs, counseling, legal system), as a last resort in cases of repeated abuse and severe physical violence. The implications of these findings for future research, interventions, and policy formulation are discussed.

Beliefs of Palestinian Women From Israel About the Responsibility and Punishment of Violent Husbands and About Helping Battered Women.

This article presents a study that examined beliefs about violent husbands and about helping battered women among Palestinian women living in Israel from the perspective of patriarchal ideology. A convenience sample of 701 married women was obtained, and a self-report questionnaire was administered. The findings reveal that the majority of participants held violent husbands accountable for their behavior; however, the majority of them did not support punishing violent husbands through formal agencies (i.e., the police) or through informal social institutions (i.e., the family). In addition, contrary to expectations, the majority of women perceived wife beating as a social problem rather than as a private one that should be dealt with within the family. Regression and multiple regression analysis revealed that women's endorsement of patriarchal ideology was found to influence all three above-mentioned beliefs about violent husbands and battered women, over and above the amount of variance in each of these beliefs that could be attributed to the women's sociodemographic characteristics. The limitations of the study and its implications for future research are discussed.

Attitudes of Palestinians Toward Social Work Interventions in Cases of Wife Assault.

The study examined the attitudes of Palestinian adults toward social work interventions in cases of husband-to-wife assault (HWA). A survey, using self-administered questionnaires and interviews, was conducted among a random sample of 624 adults from the Palestinian Authority. Results indicate higher levels of support for interventions aimed at helping the couple solve their problems than for interventions aimed at protecting the safety of battered women. However, this trend becomes reversed in cases of repeated and severe HWA. Greater support for interventions aimed at protecting the safety of battered women was found among women versus men and younger versus older adults, as well as among individuals with lower levels of justifying wife abuse and more egalitarian expectations of marriage.

The Roles of Family and Teacher Support in Moderating and Mediating Externalized and Internalized Outcomes of Exposure to Community Violence Among Arab and Jewish Adolescents in Israel.

The study examined family and teacher support as factors that can protect adolescents from internalized and externalized problems after exposure to community violence (ECV). Self-administered questionnaires were filled out by a sample of 1,832 Arab and Jewish Israeli high school students. The Arab adolescents reported significantly higher levels of community violence victimization, internalized problems, externalized problems, family support, and teacher support than the Jewish adolescents. The girls reported higher levels of internalized problems, and the boys reported higher levels of externalized problems. ECV predicted high levels of internalized and externalized problems, family support predicted low levels of internalized and externalized problems, and teacher support had no predictive role. Path analysis confirmed the significance of the relationships between ECV effects, support variables, and gender. The limitations of the study and implications of the findings for future research and for the development of family care and family intervention programs are discussed.

Self-Efficacy and Collective Efficacy as Moderators of the Psychological Consequences of Exposure of Palestinian Parents in Israel to Community Violence.

This study examined the rates of exposure to community violence (ECV; that is, witnessing and directly experiencing violence) as well as the detrimental consequences of such exposure as reflected in posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and a decline in psychological well-being (PWB) among parents. In addition, the study examined whether self-efficacy and collective efficacy moderate these consequences. A self-administered questionnaire was filled out by a systematic random sample of 760 Palestinian parents in Israel. The findings indicate that most of them had witnessed such violence, and almost half of them had directly experienced such violence in their lifetime. The rates of ECV were higher for the fathers than the mothers. ECV was found to predict high levels of PTSS and low levels of PWB among parents. In addition, collective efficacy was found only to moderate the relationship between witnessing community violence and PTSS. There is a need to identify adults who are exposed to community violence, as well as to develop culturally adapted and sociopolitically sensitive therapeutic and preventive interventions and projects for provision of assistance following exposure to such violence.

Internalizing and externalizing symptoms among Palestinian adolescents from Israel as consequences of their exposure to community violence: Are they moderated by their self-efficacy and collective efficacy?

This article presents the findings of a study that examined the rates and the consequences of exposure to community violence (ECV) as reflected in witnessing and experiencing such violence, among Palestinian adolescents from Israel. In particular, it examined the extent to which these adolescents exhibit high levels of internalizing and externalizing symptoms as consequences of such exposure, and the extent to which self-efficacy and collective efficacy moderate these consequences. A systematic random sample of 760 Palestinian adolescents in Israel (320 boys, and 440 girls) filled out a self-administered questionnaire. The results show that most of the adolescents had witnessed community violence during the last year and during lifetime, and more than one third had directly experienced such violence during their lifetime compared with 19.6% during the last year. Boys were exposed to community violence more often than girls. Moreover, participants' ECV predicted high levels of externalizing and internalizing symptoms. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that collective efficacy moderated the correlation between experiencing community violence and internalizing symptoms, whereas self-efficacy moderated the correlation between witnessing community violence and externalizing symptoms. There is a need for providing support for youth from close adults as well as from formal and informal resources in the community before and after their ECV.