Disclosing the abuse: The effect of ethnoreligious identity on CSA disclosure in forensic interviews.

Multiple studies have examined sexually abused children and their interactions with the legal system, as manifested in children's disclosures of sexual abuse during forensic interviews. Nevertheless, few have done so while referencing contextual variables, such as ethnoreligious identity. The current study was designed to examine how ethnoreligious identity affects children's disclosure in forensic interviews beyond the contribution of child characteristics and abuse characteristics. In addition, the moderating role of pre-interview disclosure was examined. An analysis of 1054 forensic interviews conducted in Israel indicated a relationship between a child's age, gender, and abuse characteristics (i.e., perpetrator identity and type of abuse) with the likelihood of disclosure during the forensic interview. The results indicated a relationship between ethnoreligious identity and forensic disclosure. Unexpectedly, Muslim Arab children were more likely to disclose than Jewish children. Predictably, pre-interview disclosure moderated the relationship between abuse characteristics and ethnoreligious identity (among Jews) and forensic disclosure. Conversely, it did not moderate the relationship between child characteristics and disclosure during the forensic interview. The findings demonstrate the importance of a context-informed examination of child abuse disclosure and its potential to advance the development of services adapted to children from diverse communities.

Community rehabilitation for persons with psychiatric disabilities: comparison of the effectiveness of segregated and integrated programs in Israel.

This study compares the effectiveness of a segregative and an integrative psychosocial recreational program for persons with psychiatric disabilities in Israel. Comparison of changes in 97 members of a segregated social club with those of 89 participants in an integrative program in their local community center shows that both reported significantly greater satisfaction with their social life, having more friends than previously, increased support from friends, less loneliness, greater social support, and engaging in more leisure activities. The only significant differences were that the participants in the segregative program reported making more new friends, while those in the integrative program reported a greater increase in the number of leisure activities in which they engaged. With this, the findings also show that the participants in the integrative program were generally stronger and in better clinical condition than those in the segregative program. These findings point to the need for different types of recreational programs to meet the needs of persons with different levels of disability.

Adjustment to divorce: a preliminary study among Muslim Arab citizens of Israel.

Adjustment to divorce in a sample of 312 Muslim Arab citizens of Israel was associated both with variables that have been shown to affect adjustment to divorce in Western societies and with variables specific to the culture of the study. The former included male gender, education, current employment, fewer accompanying stressors, and greater satisfaction with the divorce process. The latter were the respondents' self-defined modernity (as opposed to traditionalism) and their disinclination to perceive divorced persons as bad parents and spouses and as socially deviant, in accord with the social stereotype of their community.