Coping Resources and Stress Reactions Among Three Cultural Groups One Year After a Natural Disaster

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26 Scopus citations

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine patterns of personal and community coping resources in explaining stress reactions among three cultural groups: Jews, Muslims and Druze, 1 year after the massive forest fire on Mount Carmel, Israel. We first compared the three cultures in their levels of personal and community resources as well as their stress reactions: anxiety, anger and psychological distress. Data on demographics, personal and community sense of coherence (SOC), as well as stress reactions of state anxiety, state anger and psychological distress, were gathered a year after the fire in northern Israel, among adolescents aged 12–18 belonging to three cultural groups. Results indicate that the personal coping resource of SOC was the strongest predictor of ‘stress reactions’ in all cultures. Community SOC, however, played a significant role especially for the collectivistic culture of the Druze. We will discuss the results in the framework of Antonovsky’s salutogenic model and his conviction that the personal resource of SOC functions as a protective or resiliency mechanism in all cultures whose members are in a chronic state of stress. Implementation of the findings for establishing interventions for social workers to promote sense of coherence and increase resiliency of adolescents will be presented as well.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)366-374
Number of pages9
JournalClinical Social Work Journal
Volume42
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Dec 2014

Keywords

  • Adolescents
  • Coping resources
  • Culture
  • Stress reactions

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Health(social science)
  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

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