Mastery, Social Support, and Sense of Community as Protective Resources Against Psychological Distress Among Israelis Exposed to Prolonged Rocket Attacks.
Abstract
We investigated the psychological toll of exposure to rocket attacks as experienced by residents of central and southern Israel during the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict. Participants completed an online survey assessing their life-threatening experiences, the availability of psychosocial resources, and symptoms of both PTSD (PCL-5) and nonspecific psychological distress (K6) 2-3 months posttrauma. Guided by the conservation of resources theory, we focused on the distress-protective functions of person- and community-oriented resources: mastery, perceived social support, and sense of community. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that elevated exposure to rocket attacks predicted higher levels of PTSD but not psychological distress. All 13 predictors (i.e., sociodemographic factors, trauma exposure, personal and community resources) and three interactions between rocket attack-related trauma exposure and each of the resources accounted for a significant amount of the variance in PTSD, R2 = .251, adjusted R2 = .235, and nonspecific psychological distress, R2 = .280, adjusted R2 = .264. Predictably, higher levels of mastery and perceived social support were associated with lower PCL-5 and K6 scores. Unexpectedly, respondents who...Continue Reading
References
Social support, interpersonal, and community dynamics following disasters caused by natural hazards.
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