Resilience and Political Violence: A Cross-Cultural Study of Moderating Effects Among Jewish- and Arab-Israeli Youth

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Resilience and Political Violence: A Cross-Cultural Study of Moderating Effects Among Jewish- and Arab-Israeli Youth

Iris Lavi1 and Michelle Slone1

Abstract

Children in countries involved in violent national conflicts experience difficult and, at times, extreme events such as spending long hours in shelters, witnessing terror attacks, or having a family member absent or injured while participating in battle. This study explores the moderating effect of resilience factors, self-esteem, and self-control, on relations between political violence and children’s difficulties. Children and mothers from 104 Jewish- and 108 Arab-Israeli families complete questionnaires assessing political violence exposure, self-esteem, self-control, and the child’s social, psychological, and behavioral difficulties. Findings show that Israeli children exhibited heightened levels of psychological difficulties with high impact of political violence, a relationship that is partially moderated by self-control. In addition, significant ethnic group differences are found. First, political life events (PLE) are positively related to the child’s social, psychological, and behavioral difficulties in the Arab group. Second, the relationship between political life events and the child’s difficulties is moderated by self-control in the Jewish group and by self-esteem in the Arab group. Consequences of these results to understanding the impact of political violence and the role of individual resilience during conflict are discussed.

1Tel Aviv University, Tel Avi, Israel

Corresponding Author:Iris Lavi, Department of Psychology, Tel Aviv University, P. O. Box 39040, Tel Aviv 69978, IsraelEmail: [email protected].

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846 Youth & Society 43(3)

Keywords

political violence, resilience, ethnic, children, Israel

An environment of political conflict produces a setting in which children must endure uncertainty and threat. Children in such environments are exposed to a variety of events, such as demonstrations and absence of family members in the army, and they may witness terror-related aggressive acts that affect their sense of self-security. Consequences of such exposure have been studied exten-sively in many areas of the world that suffer from protracted conflicts, such as Northern Ireland, South Africa, Rwanda, and Israel, as well as in areas suffer-ing large-scale but discrete terror attacks like the 9/11 events in the United States. The current research offers two contributions to the study of political violence. First, it aids in understanding political violence and its impact within a particular social system. Second, the study enables generalizing of universal common themes regarding the impact of political violence beyond the specific social system. As such, the present study focused on the impact of exposure to protracted political violence among Jewish- and Arab-Israeli children and examined the possible moderating effect of self-esteem and self-control in coping with this exposure.

Political Violence in IsraelIsrael is a multicultural society dealing with decades of conflict and war, central to which is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that has been a historical legacy in the Middle East. The Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza reacted to Israeli occupation with two major uprisings in their claims for an independent Palestinian state. The first uprising, termed the first Intifada, aimed at improving Palestinians’ living conditions and establishing an inde-pendent state and was characterized by public demonstrations, stone throwing and relatively insulated clashes within the occupied territories (Shalev, 1990). The second El-Aqsa Intifada erupted in September, 2000, as a result of frus-tration with failure of former peace negotiations. Although the goals of this Intifada remained similar to the first one, the course of action changed and included suicide bombing in crowded public places throughout the country and armed attacks against the Israeli army and settlers. Within Israel, the Intifada meant a loss of personal security with the death of hundreds of Israe-lis. The Israeli army reacted with armed attacks, planned killings of terrorists, curfews, and destruction of homes. This aggravation in violence resulted in intense conflict that has been resistant to resolution. The prolonged conflict



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could have very different consequences for various segments in Israeli soci-ety, especially the Jewish majority and the Arab minority who have different cultures and identifications.

Arab-Israeli CitizensThe origin of the Arab minority in Israel predates the foundation of the Israeli state, and this population sector is constituted by the part of the Arab popula-tion that remained in Israel in 1948 and became Israeli citizens. The Arab-Israeli population is the largest, most differentiated minority in Israel, comprising 19.5% of the total population (Central Bureau of Statistics, 2005). Coexis-tence of Jews and Arabs in Israel is a sensitive issue. Although there are some mixed cities, in most cases, cultural and residential divisions are preserved with marked inequalities in social status and structures (Reiter, 1996).

Differentiation of Jewish- and Arab-Israeli citizens is apparent on the famil-ial and cultural levels. The dominant familial structure of the Arab-Israeli family is authoritarian, patriarchal, and collectivistic and emphasizes harmony, obedience, and conformity (Haj-Yahia, 1994; Weller, Florian, & Mikulincer, 1995). The Jewish-Israeli family is generally more individualistic and stresses personal achievement, competitiveness, heterogeneity, and concern with self (Segall, Dasen, Berry, & Poortinga, 1999).

The meaning of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could be very different for the Jewish and Arab-Israeli populations. The conflict is linked to the nationali-ties and identifications of Arab-Israelis who are both Israeli citizens and Palestinians. Arab-Israeli ties with relatives and acquaintances living in neigh-boring Arab states or in the Palestinian occupied territories adds a complex aspect to their identity struggle and could complicate the meaning of the con-flict for them.

The Impact of Political Violence on ChildrenStudies of political violence have shown large interindividual differences in its effects on children, and no consensus has been reached as to its outcome. Outcomes have ranged from confined impact (Joseph, Cairns, & McCollam, 1993) to significant negative impact on various aspects of children’ lives. Research focusing on emotional difficulties subsequent to exposure has reported a wide range of outcomes from negative mood and posttraumatic reactions (Zeidner, 2005), to psychological distress (Hallis & Slone, 1999), and postraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression (Lavi & Solomon, 2005). The relationship between political violence and emotional problems




has been found to be complex and confounded with factors of gender and religiosity (Laufer & Solomon, 2006), coping strategies and locus of control (Hallis & Slone, 1999), family characteristics (Punamaki, Qouta, & El-Sarraj, 2001), learning disabilities (Finzi-Dottan, Dekel, Lavi, & Su’ali, 2006), and residential location (Solomon & Lavi, 2005). Fewer studies have examined behavioral outcomes of exposure, but these have also revealed interactions with factors such as gender and age (Garbarino & Kostelny, 1996).

In contrast, some research has shown a positive effect of political vio-lence on moral and ethical development (Coles, 1986; Elbedour, Baker, & Charlesworth, 1997), whereas others suggest the possibility of posttrau-matic growth after exposure, irrespective of short-term reactions (Laufer & Solomon, 2006).

Two explanations can be proposed to account for these wide outcome vari-ations, the first based on methodological complexities inherent in the field, and the second based on possible moderating effects of resilience factors.

Methodological Complexities in Studying Political ViolenceThe first explanation ascribes the range of consequences of political violence exposure to variability in defining what constitutes political violence and who are the affected populations. In response to these difficulties, many stud-ies have selected to focus on one acute event, from the 9/11 events in the United States (Phillips, Prince, & Schiebelhut, 2004) through to the demolition of a family home (Thabet, Abed, & Vostanis, 2002). Regarding the question of affected populations, several studies of discrete terror attacks have selected participants based on geographical proximity to the event (Phillips et al., 2004) or participants injured in the event (Finzi-Dottan et al., 2006). Though appro-priate for studying cases of discrete attacks, this strategy does not always align with the attempt to measure exposure in a chronic conflict where generaliza-tion from a single major event to continuous exposure would be problematic.

To address this issue of chronic exposure, the present study utilized a political life events (PLE) model (Slone, 2006; Slone, Durrheim, & Kaminer, 1997), a paradigm that adapted the life events model to the political violence domain. Life events paradigms enable examination of chronic stressors by quantifying human experiences, enabling a relatively sensitive assessment of personal exposure from day-to-day occurrences to extreme stressors (Cohen, 1988). Following a comprehensive examination of the political violence experiences of Israeli youth, the PLE questionnaire (Slone et al., 1997) was developed by compiling a list including all possible exposure events. This



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questionnaire enables measurement of personal exposure to events of both an acute and chronic nature. In the present study, this questionnaire was used to assess the personal impact of children’s idiosyncratic sets of exposure, enabling evaluation of relations between their PLE and a constellation of life difficulties.

Stressful events could invade many aspects of life and culminate in effects across many domains. Many previous studies in the field have targeted a single factor such as PTSD (Finzi-Dottan et al., 2006; Solomon & Lavi, 2005), or a group of outcomes relating to a single domain, mainly emotional difficul-ties (Zeidner, 2005). A relatively small number of studies have targeted outcomes relating to the well-being of children in several life areas (Muldoon & Trew, 2000) or in domains not crucial for normative functioning, like future orientation, attitudes toward peace (Lavi & Solomon, 2005), and moral rea-soning (Elbedour et al., 1997).

The strong focus on emotional difficulties in general, and PTSD in par-ticular, could represent a hidden assumption of its greater importance or prevalence in contexts of political violence. However, malfunctioning in one life area does not necessarily extend to other areas, and conversely, a failure to detect malfunctioning in one area does not imply unscathed functioning across all domains. Indeed, there is a contribution to be made by studying different life areas jointly. The present study examined possible outcome dif-ficulties of political violence exposure in three major life areas of children: social, psychological, and behavioral. Though not exhaustive, this advances toward more representative sampling of adjustment and functioning of chil-dren, thereby enabling a fuller view of exposure outcomes.

The Moderating Role of Resilience FactorsThe second explanation offered for the wide range in consequences of political violence ascribes them not to empirical variations but to true interindividual differences in children’s vulnerability to political violence. Though some chil-dren may be considerably affected by exposure, others may show strength and retain good functioning. Resilience, the process by which positive factors con-tribute to adaptive outcomes in the face of risk factors (Kirby & Fraser, 1997), is offered as an explanation for this differential vulnerability. Common models for the study of resilience examine its role as a moderator or buffer to the effects of stress (Kirby & Fraser, 1997). The current study focused on the possible moderating role of two personal resilience factors: self-esteem and self-control. These factors have been established as having a positive independent impact on children (Kirby & Fraser, 1997; Mruk, 2006; Rosenbaum, 1989).




Self-esteem has been conceptualized as a general feeling of self-worth and self-acceptance and reflects appreciation of the self and subjective evaluation of own abilities and attributes (Rosenberg, 1965). Self-esteem is considered a profound resilience trait that protects from a range of stress and anxiety provoking conditions, such as stressful life events (Mruk, 2006) and environ-mental risk and disadvantage (Werner & Smith, 1982).

Self-control is the ability to regulate behavior, halt inappropriate actions, and acquire new and effective behavior patterns (Rosenbaum, 1989). Studies have found self-control to be directly related to good adjustment, good inter-personal skills, and secure attachments (Tangney, Baumeister, & Boone, 2004); low levels of mental disorders (Strayhorn, 2002); and the use of problem-focused coping strategies when facing challenging situations (Rosenbaum, 1989). Though many studies have linked low levels of self-control to delin-quent behavior, much less research has been conducted regarding normative populations, as is the case in the current study.

Hence, although self-esteem and self-control have been well established as important resilience factors relating to many aspects of children’s lives, especially in the face of stressful situations, their ability to moderate conse-quences of political violence exposure has not been previously examined. Similarly, the possible combined effect of the two factors or the added value of this combination has not been examined. The present study addressed these issues by examining the separate and cumulative moderating effects of these factors in the context of chronic conflict and the possible differential roles of these factors among the two major ethnic groups in Israel, Jewish- and Arab-Israeli children.

Ethnic Differences in Self-Esteem and Self-ControlThe different Jewish- and Arab-Israeli family structures could be related to self-esteem and self-control in different ways. Self-esteem has been described as having a positive influence on a wide range of domains in many cultures and societies (Mruk, 2006), although there has been no indication of its having a differential cross-cultural protective role. Comparisons between Jewish- and Arab-Israeli adolescents have reported higher levels of self-esteem in the Arab group, interpreted to arise from different origins of self-esteem in these two groups (Sherer & Enbal, 2006).

On the other hand, self-control appears to be shaped by different sources and could be susceptible to familial differences. In Arab-Israeli families, the emphasis on self-discipline that characterizes collectivistic families (Haj-Yahia, 1994) could affect self-control. Together with this, in Jewish-Israeli families,



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the emphasis on competition and achievement that characterizes individualistic families (Segall et al., 1999) could influence self-control and its developmen-tal function differently. In view of the mixed findings and projections for ethnic differences in self-esteem and self-control, the examination of their mod-erating role against political violence exposure was posed as an exploratory question.

HypothesesIn line with this rationale, the study proposed four hypotheses and raised one exploratory question. The first hypothesis predicted a direct positive relation-ship between PLE and the child’s social, psychological, and behavioral difficulties, such that children who report high levels of PLE will report higher levels of difficulties, in comparison to children who report low levels of PLE.

The second and third hypotheses stated, respectively, that self-esteem and self-control would moderate the relationship between PLE and the child’s social, psychological, and behavioral difficulties. Children exposed to high or low PLE with low self-esteem or self-control will have higher levels of social, psychological, and behavioral difficulties than those with high self-esteem or self-control.

The fourth hypothesis stated that the combination of high self-esteem and high self-control would have a larger moderating effect on the relationship between PLE and children’s social, psychological, and behavioral difficulties than the summed effect of each factor individually. Specifically, in the face of exposure to high and low levels of PLE, the least amount of children’s social, psychological, and behavioral difficulties were predicted for the group with high levels of both self-esteem and self-control and the most for children with low levels of both self-esteem and self-control, in comparison to the other two groups with mixed levels of self-esteem and self-control.

In addition to the research hypotheses, the study raised an exploratory question related to possible differences between Jewish- and Arab-Israeli groups for the above hypotheses.

MethodParticipants

Participants were 212 children, 104 (49.1%) from Jewish-Israeli, and 108 (50.9%) from Arab-Israeli families in the age range of 7.04 to 12.72 years (M = 10.73, SD = 1.01) with 101 boys and 109 girls (in two cases gender was




not reported). Divisions by age and by gender across ethnic groups (50 Jewish boys, 53 Jewish girls, 56 Arab boys, and 51 Arab girls) were rela-tively even. Questionnaires were completed by the parents and the child. Families were sampled from six middle-class cities in Israel. Due to differ-ences in socioeconomic status between the Jewish and Arab population in Israel (Reiter, 1996), the cities had similar rankings of socioeconomic status for each population according to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics. Rank-ing of socioeconomic status of the cities was based on the financial resources of residents, residence conditions, education, occupation and unemployment, social and economic indicators, and demographic characteristics (Central Bureau of Statistics, 1999). In addition, similarity in socioeconomic status was verified using a short self-report question administered to parents. Com-parison of self-reports on socioeconomic status of Jewish and Arab families using a t test showed no significant differences.

In addition, each two cities in a Jewish-Arab pair of cities were geo-graphically close. This sampling strategy was based on the assumption that geographical proximity would reduce the risk of deviation in exposure to political violence due to differences between central and peripheral areas. Cities were selected with the help of a sampling expert and an expert in Arab-Israeli comparative research. Families were randomly chosen from classroom lists of schools in the designated areas.

InstrumentsPLE. The PLE scale (Slone, 2006; Slone et al., 1997) is a 22-item self-report

checklist designed to measure life events that could be encountered by children in the context of the Middle East political violence and conflict. Respondents were requested to mark all events to which they had been exposed over the past year, to appraise whether the event was of a negative or positive nature, and to assign the personal impact of exposure to that event on a Likert-scale score of 1 (no impact) to 5 (very much). Items included mild events such as participat-ing in a political demonstration, moderate events such as being present in a politically based violent event that included use of weapons or stone-throwing, and severe events such as the death of a relative due to political violence.

This study used the impact score, calculated as the sum of ratings of the appraised impact of negatively experienced events (PLE impact). This score can range from 0, meaning no exposure to any event, to 100, meaning expo-sure to all events and ranking all events as having greatest impact. PLE scores can be computed using all or only the negative items. Using all items, positive and negative, is supported by studies showing that a process of adaptation is



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necessary even when life change is of a positive nature (Cohen, 1988). How-ever, in this study, as the participants were from cultures that most likely do not share the same views of the conflict, this approach was unsuitable because inclusion of all life events, positive and negative, could result in the score having different meanings for Jewish and Arab participants. For example, a security check upon entering a public place could be perceived as a positive safety procedure by Jewish children and as an embarrassing or invasive event by Arab children. Inclusion of a positive experienced event in the PLE score would falsely reflect this score as a stress measure.

Similarly, the impact score and not the severity score was selected for this study because many of the events could have a very different meaning for the two groups. Though use of the objective exposure score would necessitate assuming the same impact of each event for children of both groups, the use of the more subjective impact score would not. In the above example, a secu-rity scan could have a very different impact for Jewish and Arab children that would be reflected in the impact score but not the exposure score.

The original Hebrew version of the questionnaire was back-translated into Arabic by two independent translators whose home language was Arabic. The PLE scale in Hebrew has been found to be a good predictor of adjust-ment problems (Hallis & Slone, 1999; Slone, 2003). Internal consistency was not computed for that scale because there is no reason to assume consistency in exposure to different politically violent life events.

Life events. The Life Events Scale (LE; Coddington, 1990) was adminis-tered to control for stressful life events that could bias the relationship between PLE impact and the child’s difficulties. The LE is a 33-item self-report checklist designed to measure a wide range of significant life experiences including family, school, residential, and social events. As with the PLE questionnaire, severity and impact scales could be computed, using all items or using only the negative ones. In this study, the score used was the impact of negative life events score computed by summing the impact rating for the negative events reported for exposure. The checklist was back-translated into Arabic and Hebrew by independent translators for their respective home languages. Internal consistency was not computed for the scale because there is no reason to assume consistency in exposure to different life events. The questionnaire has been used in previous studies conducted in the context of national conflict in Israel (e.g., Slone, 2003, 2006).

Self-esteem. The Self-Esteem Scale (SE; Rosenberg, 1965) comprises 10 self-report items measuring general feelings of self-worth and self-acceptance rated on a Likert-scale score of 1 (strongly agree) to 4 (strongly disagree) and scored as the average of responses. The questionnaire has been translated into




Hebrew (Nadler, Mayseless, Peri, & Chemerinski, 1985) and was back-translated into Arabic according to the procedure described above. The English version of the questionnaire has good validity and reliability and has yielded negative correlations with several constructs related to low self-esteem, such as anxiety and depression (Fleming & Courtney, 1984). In addition, this ques-tionnaire has good discriminant validity with no significant correlations found with gender, age, and birth order. The English version has good reliability with Cronbach’s a coefficient of .88 and correlation coefficient for test–retest reliability of r = .82 for a 2-week interval (Fleming & Courtney, 1984). The Hebrew version has also been reported to have high internal reliability with Cronbach’s a coefficients between .79 and .95 (Hobfoll & Walfisch, 1984; Taubman-Ben-Ari & Kats-Ben-Ami, 2008). The current study yielded a Cron-bach’s a coefficient of .85 for internal consistency.

Self-control. The Self-Control Schedule (SCS; Rosenbaum, 1980) com-prises 32 self-report items measuring the ability to utilize self-management methods for problem solving rated on a Likert-scale score of 1 (very unchar-acteristic of me) to 6 (very characteristic of me) and scored as the average of responses to items. The questionnaire was constructed in Hebrew and back-translated into Arabic. Discriminant validity of the Hebrew version is good with most correlations with the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) psychopa-thology scales remaining nonsignificant (Rosenbaum, 1980). Test–retest reliability of the Hebrew version for a week interval is good with a correla-tion coefficient of .86 and internal consistency is good with Kuder–Richardson reliability coefficient of .78 to .86 (Rosenbaum, 1980). Internal consistency in this study yielded a Cronbach’s a coefficient of .80.

Social difficulties: child report. The self-report version of the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS; Gresham & Elliott, 1990) provides indicators on three subscales relating to children’s social skills: cooperation, assertiveness, and empathy. The questionnaire comprises 27 items rated on a Likert-scale score of 1 (not at all) to 5 (very much) and scored as the average of the three sub-scales. The original score, reflecting social skills, was reversed to represent social difficulties. For the present study, the questionnaire was back-translated into Hebrew and Arabic. Internal consistency of the English version is good with Cronbach’s a coefficients of .51 to .83 as is test–retest reliability with correlations of .52 to .68 for a 4-week interval (Gresham & Elliott, 1990). This questionnaire has been used to assess Israeli children, and the Hebrew version is reported to have good reliability with Cronbach’s a coefficients of .82 (Heiman & Margalit, 1998). This study yielded a Cronbach’s a coefficient of .90.



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Social difficulties: mother report. The parent report version of the SSRS (Gresham & Elliott, 1990) provides indicators regarding the social skills of the child, in reference to six social domains: cooperation, assertiveness, responsibility, extroversion, introversion, and hyperactivity. The question-naire comprises 46 parent report items rated on a Likert-scale score of 0 (never) to 4 (always) and scored as the average of the six subscales. The first four subscales, representing social skills, were reversed to represent social difficulties. The questionnaire was back-translated into Hebrew and Arabic. Internal consistency of the English version is good with Cronbach’s a coef-ficients of .83 to .94 and test–retest reliability yielded a correlation of .67 for a 4-week interval (Gresham, 2001). Internal consistency in this study was very good with a Cronbach’s a coefficient of .91.

Psychological difficulties: child report. The child’s subjective perception of psychological difficulties was measured with the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI; Derogatis & Spencer, 1982). The BSI is the abbreviated version of the Symptom Checklist-90-R, comprising 53 self-report items rated on a Likert scale score of 0 (never) to 4 (very much) that provide a distress index (global severity index [GSI]) and nine specific symptom subscales. This study used the GSI to reflect children’s distress scored as the average of rating on all items. The questionnaire has been translated into Hebrew (Canetti, Shalev, & De-Nour, 1994) and was back-translated into Arabic according to the same procedure as the other questionnaires. The English version of the inventory has yielded high reliability measures with Cronbach’s a coefficients of .71 to .81 and high test–retest reliability with correlations of .78 to .90 (Derogatis & Spencer, 1982). The Hebrew version has good validity with correlation coef-ficients of –.62 with the General Well-Being Scale (Canetti et al., 1994). The questionnaire has been used in several studies with Israeli samples (Slone, 2003; Slone, Adiri, & Arian, 1998; Slone & Hallis, 1999). Internal consis-tency in this study was excellent with a Cronbach’s a coefficient of .94.

Psychological difficulties: mother report. Mother report of children’s psycho-logical difficulties was measured with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Achenbach & McConaughy, 1987) comprising 113 parent report items of the child’s symptom rated on a Likert-scale score of 0 (not true) to 2 (very often). The checklist provides assessment along eight subscales, four relating to the child’s psychological difficulties: withdrawn, somatic complaints, anxious/depressed, and thought problems. The average of these 4 subscales, comprising a total of 39 items, constituted the psychological difficulties (mother report score). The questionnaire has a Hebrew and an Arabic version and reports good construct validity, discriminating between normative and psychiat-ric admission children groups. The Hebrew version of the CBCL has been




frequently used in Israel (e.g., Stawski et al., 1995) and reported to have good reliability with Cronbach’s a coefficients ranging from .78 to .91 (Ofer, 1983). The current study yielded a Cronbach’s a coefficient of .87 for inter-nal consistency.

Behavioral difficulties: child report. Behavioral difficulties were measured with the Youth Self-Report (YSR; Achenbach & McConaughy, 1987) com-prising 112 symptom items rated by the child on a Likert-scale score of 0 (not at all) to 4 (very much). The checklist provides assessment along nine sub-scales, two of which relate to behavioral difficulties: delinquent behavior and aggressive behavior. The behavioral difficulties (child report) score was com-posed of the average of these 2 subscales, comprising a total of 30 items. The questionnaire has a Hebrew and an Arabic version. Psychometric properties of the English version are good with Cronbach’s a coefficient of .89 and test–retest correlations of .80 to .81 (Achenbach, 1991). The Hebrew version of the YSR is in frequent use in Israel (e.g., Stawski et al., 1995) and has been reported to have good reliability with Cronbach’s a coefficient of .91 for the total scale (Braun-Lewensohn et al., in press). The Arabic version has been reported to have good internal consistency with Cronbach’s a coefficient of .91 for externalizing symptoms, which includes the two subscales used in this study (Haj-Yahia, 2008). This study yielded a Cronbach’s a coefficient of .85.

Behavioral difficulties: mother report. This measure was composed of the four behavioral subscales of CBCL (Achenbach & McConaughy, 1987) described previously: attention problems, delinquent behavior, aggressive behavior, and other problems. The behavioral difficulties (mother report) score was com-posed of the average of these subscales, comprising a total of 83 items. In a pretest antecedent to this study, following a reliability analysis, 17 items that lowered the internal consistency were deleted, resulting in a 66-item scale. The current study yielded a Cronbach’s a coefficient of .90.

Demographics questionnaire: mother and father reports. The demographic questionnaire consisted of 7 questions regarding parents’ age, years of educa-tion and political orientation on a scale of 1 = right wing to 10 = left wing. Regarding socioeconomic status, the questionnaire included an item requesting an assessment of the socioeconomic status of the family on a scale of 1 = low economic status to 5 = high economic status. In addition, three items assessing the religiosity level of the respondent based on a scale by Haj-Yahia (1998) were included. Items referring to religiosity ranged on a scale of 1 = do not consider myself religious/do not practice and adhere to the laws and customs of my religion/do not identify and feel affiliated with my religion to 10 = consider myself very religious/ practice and adhere to the laws and customs of my religion/ identify and feel affiliated with my religion.



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Procedure

After receiving authorization from the university ethics committee and Israeli Ministry of Education and after obtaining informed consent from one parent, the families were randomly selected from classroom lists of schools in the six Israeli cities. Questionnaires were administered in the child’s home in the family’s home language by Hebrew- or Arabic-speaking experimenters, respectively. The child’s questionnaires were read aloud to verify comprehen-sion of items. Confidentiality of child and mother responses was assured and participants were informed they could terminate participation at any point.

ResultsDescriptive Analyses

Demographic data of the Jewish and Arab families reflected differences between families of the two cultures. Jewish mothers were older (M = 41.48, SD = 5.32) than Arab mothers, M = 37.62, SD = 5.85, t(172) = 4.54, p < .001. Jewish fathers were more highly educated (years of education: M = 14.94, SD = 3.23) than Arab fathers, M = 13.37, SD = 3.53, t(165) = 2.99, p = .003, and Jewish mothers were more highly educated (M = 15.14, SD = 3.01) than Arab mothers, M = 12.60, SD = 2.93, t(188) = 5.85, p < .001.

Jewish fathers reported more right-wing political orientation (M = 4.59, SD = 2.40) in comparison to Arab fathers, M = 7.42, SD = 2.58, t(179) = –7.61, p < .001. This pattern appeared for mothers as well: Jewish mothers reported political orientation closer to the right wing (M = 4.95, SD = 2.40) in com-parison to Arab mothers, M = 7.11, SD = 2.50, t(183) = –6.01, p < .001. Lastly, regarding religiosity level, Jewish parents reported being more secular (fathers: M = 6.31, SD = 2.69; mothers: M = 5.87, SD = 2.72) compared to Arab parents, fathers: M = 7.40, SD = 2.14, t(163.02) = –3.05, p < .001; mothers: M = 8.17, SD = 1.60, t(164.87) = –7.37, p < .001.

Means, standard deviations and ethnic group comparisons in the study variables are displayed in Table 1. Significant differences were found in which Arab children reported higher levels of self-esteem and self-control, and Jewish children reported higher levels of difficulties. No significant dif-ferences between the ethnic groups were found in levels of PLE impact.

PLE and resilience. The research hypotheses stated that there would be both a direct and a moderated effect of PLE impact on the child’s difficulties. In addi-tion, an exploratory question of possible differences in these relations between the two ethnic groups was posed. The four hypotheses were examined using a




three-way multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) with PLE impact, self-esteem, and self-control as independent variables and social life events impact as a covariate. Variables were divided into high and low according to variable medians. The dependent variables were the six difficulty areas, namely, child and mother reports of social, psychological, and behavioral difficulties.

The first hypothesis predicting a direct relationship between PLE impact and child difficulties was partially confirmed with the main effect of PLE impact significant only for psychological difficulties (child report), F(1, 203) = 6.43, p = .01, h2 = .03, power = 0.71. Children with high PLE impact reported higher levels of psychological difficulties (M = 0.86, SD = 0.53) than those with low PLE impact (M = 0.66, SD = 0.50).

The second hypothesis predicted the moderating role of self-esteem and would be reflected in an interaction between PLE impact and self-esteem on the child’s difficulties. This hypothesis was refuted, as the interaction between PLE impact and self-esteem was not significant.

The third hypothesis stating that self-control would moderate the relation-ship between PLE and the child’s social, psychological, and behavioral difficulties was partially confirmed, as the interaction between PLE impact and self-control was significant for psychological difficulties (child report), F(1, 203) = 3.98, p = .047, h2 = .02, power = 0.51. Tukey post hoc analysis revealed the source of the interaction and showed a pattern in accordance with the hypothesis. Children with high PLE impact and low self-control reported

Table 1. Means, Standard Deviations, and t Tests for Comparing Jewish- and Arab-Israelis

Jewish Arab Israelis Israelis t Test

M SD M SD t p

PLE impact 8.70 6.95 7.78 7.23 0.95 .34Self-esteem 3.27 0.42 3.46 0.34 -3.56 0Self-control 4.06 0.66 4.48 0.58 -4.91 0Social difficulties: child report 2.12 0.50 1.84 0.55 3.95 0Social difficulties: mother report 2.06 0.43 1.88 0.37 3.17 0Psychological difficulties: child report 0.95 0.52 0.55 0.44 5.96 0Psychological difficulties: mother report 0.17 0.20 0.14 0.13 1.24 .21Behavioral difficulties: child report 1.58 0.38 1.41 0.25 3.69 0Behavioral difficulties: mother report 0.17 0.19 0.15 0.12 0.80 .43



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higher levels of psychological difficulties (M = 1.05, SD = 0.49) compared with the other three groups—children reporting high levels of PLE impact and self-control (M = 0.66, SD = 0.50, p < .001), children reporting low levels of PLE impact and self-control (M = 0.71, SD = 0.45, p = .001), and children reporting low levels of PLE impact and high self-control (M = 0.61, SD = 0.54, p < .001).

The interaction between PLE impact and self-control was significant for two additional areas of difficulty, those of behavioral difficulties (mother report), F(1, 203) = 5.24, p = .02, h2 = .03, power = 0.63, and psychological difficulties–mother report, F(1, 203) = 4.36, p = .04, h2 = .02, power = 0.55. Examination of these interactions showed similar patterns, though to a lesser extent than in the case of psychological difficulties (child report). Regarding behavioral difficulties (mother report), Tukey post hoc analyses revealed one significant difference between the groups. Mothers of children who reported high levels of PLE impact and low self-control reported significantly ( p = .03) higher levels of the child’s behavioral difficulties (M = 0.21, SD = 0.23) compared to mothers of children who reported low levels of PLE impact and low self-control (M = 0.12, SD = 0.11). Regarding psychological difficulties (mother report), Tukey post hoc analyses revealed no significant differences between the groups. Thus, the general pattern of the interactions was in accordance with the hypothesis, although the post hoc tests did not show significant differences in the hypothesized direction. Consequently, only the result regarding psychological difficulties (child report) could be considered as fully supporting the hypothesis. Interactions of PLE impact and self-control for the three remaining areas of difficulty were not significant.

The fourth hypothesis stated that the combination of high self-esteem and high self-control would have a greater moderating effect on the relationship between PLE and children’s social, psychological, and behavioral difficulties than the sum of effects of each factors individually. This hypothesis was rejected, as the interaction between PLE impact, self-esteem, and self-control was not significant.

In summary, only self-control was found to moderate the relationship between PLE impact and the child’s psychological difficulties. In addition, the unconditional positive relationship between PLE impact and psychologi-cal difficulties (child report) was retained, even with this significant interaction. Self-esteem did not have a similar moderating effect.

Ethnic group differences. The analysis of the exploratory question included three steps. In the first step, a two-way MANCOVA was conducted with ethnic group (Arab, Jewish) and PLE impact (high, low) as the independent variables, social life events impact (high, low) as a covariate, and the six areas




of difficulty as dependent variables. PLE impact was not found to have a sig-nificant main effect on any of the difficulty areas.

In the second step, a four-way MANCOVA was conducted with ethnic group (Arab, Jewish), PLE impact (high, low), self-esteem (high, low), and self-control (high, low) as the independent variables, social life events impact (high, low) as a covariate, and the six areas of difficulty as dependent vari-ables. The results showed a significant PLE impact main effect on psychological difficulties (child report), F(1, 195) = 5.42, p = .02, h2 = .03, power = 0.64. Six interactions relating to the current study were found to be significant: (1) An interaction emerged between ethnic group and PLE impact on social difficulties (child report), F(1, 195) = 5.24, p = .02, h2 = .03, power = 0.62. (2) An interaction was found between ethnic group, PLE impact, and self-esteem on behavioral difficulties (mother report), F(1, 195) = 8.23, p < .01, h2 = .03, power = 0.62. (3 and 4) An interaction emerged between PLE impact and self-control on both psychological difficulties (mother report), F(1, 195) = 4.68, p = .03, h2 = .02, power = 0.58, and behavioral difficulties (mother report), F(1, 195) = 6.84, p = .01, h2 = .03, power = 0.74. (5 and 6) An interaction was yielded between PLE impact, self-esteem, and self-control on both social difficulties–mother report, F(1, 195) = 4.92, p = .03, h2 = .02, power = 0.60, and behavioral difficulties (mother report), F(1, 195) = 6.02, p = .02, h2 = .03, power = 0.69. The results indicated that ethnic group was a significant factor in some of the relationships between PLE impact and the child’s difficulties. To examine these relations, due to a general difficulty in interpreting four-way analyses, and specifically the complex interactions presented previously, further analyses were conducted for each ethnic group separately.

Thus, in the third step of the analysis, two 3-way MANCOVAs were con-ducted, one for the Jewish group (n = 104) and one for the Arab group (n = 108). Each MANCOVA included PLE impact (high, low), self-esteem (high, low), and self-control (high, low) as the independent variables; social life events impact (high, low) as a covariate; and the six areas of difficulty as dependent variables.

Jewish group. The main effect of PLE impact in the Jewish group was not significant. Moderation of self-esteem was determined by examining the interaction between PLE impact and self-esteem on the six areas of difficulty. Results yielded a significant interaction for behavioral difficulties–mother report, F(1, 95) = 4.29, p = .04, h2 = .04, power = 0.54. However, the direction was not in accordance with the hypothesized pattern and, in addition, Tukey post hoc analysis did not yield significant differences. Similarly, moderation of self-control was determined by examining the interaction between PLE impact and self-control. A significant interaction emerged for psychological



Lavi and Slone 861

difficulties (mother report), F(1, 95) = 5.16, p = .03, h2 = .05, power = 0.61. The apparent pattern was in accordance with the third hypothesis, although Tukey post hoc analysis found no significant differences between the four groups. In addition, the combination of high self-esteem and high self-control was hypothesized to have a greater moderating effect than high self-esteem or self-control alone. This hypothesis was examined via the interactions between PLE impact, self-esteem, and self-control but no significant differ-ences emerged.

Arab group. In the Arab group, PLE main effect was significant for three difficulty areas. A significant difference emerged for social difficulties (child report), F(1, 99) = 5.22, p = .02, h2 = .05, power = 0.62, in which high PLE impact was associated with higher levels of social difficulties according to mother report (M = 1.96, SD = 0.66) than at low PLE impact (M = 1.76, SD = 0.44). Similarly for psychological difficulties (child report), a signifi-cant difference emerged, F(1, 99) = 5.86, p = .02, h2 = .06, power = 0.67, in which high PLE impact was associated with higher levels of psychological difficulties according to child report (M = 0.63, SD = 0.43) than at low PLE impact (M = 0.50, SD = 0.44). A third significant interaction emerged for behavioral difficulties (mother report), F(1, 99) = 4.91, p = .03, h2 = .05, power = 0.59, in which high PLE impact was associated with higher levels of behavioral difficulties according to mother report (M = 0.18, SD = 0.14) than at low PLE impact (M = 0.14, SD = 0.11).

Moderation of self-esteem and self-control was determined by examin-ing the interactions between PLE impact and self-esteem and between PLE impact and self-control, respectively, on the difficulty areas. Both interac-tions were not significant. Examination of the three-way interaction between PLE impact, self-esteem, and self-control yielded a significant difference for high self-esteem and high self-control on psychological difficulties (child report), F(1, 99) = 6.47, p = .01, h2 = .06, power = 0.71. This interaction is displayed in Figure 1.

Results of Tukey post hoc analyses showed high self-esteem to be related to less psychological difficulties in two circumstances. First in the circum-stance that both PLE impact and self-control were low, low self-esteem was significantly associated (p = .03) with lower levels of psychological difficul-ties (M = 1.76, SD = 0.47) than high self-esteem (M = 1.30, SD = 0.29). Second in the circumstance that both PLE impact and self-control were high, low self-esteem tended toward significance (p = .06) with higher levels of psychological difficulties (M = 1.89, SD = 0.59) than high self-esteem (M = 1.34, SD = 0.25). These results suggest that for children with low levels of self-control, high self-esteem was related to lower levels of psychological difficulties but only when the impact of PLE exposure is low. When self-control




is high, high self-esteem was related to lower levels of psychological diffi-culties in conditions of high PLE impact.

In summary, considerable differences were found between the ethnic groups. First, a direct relationship between impact of PLE exposure and level of difficulties was found only for Arab children. Second, self-control moder-ated the relationship between PLE impact and psychological difficulties only among Jewish but not among Arab children. Finally, in comparison to low self-esteem, high self-esteem was related to lower levels of psychological difficulties of Arab children in two cases: when self-control and PLE impact were both high, and when PLE impact and self-control were both low.

Gender differences. To ascertain whether there were gender differences in the relations between PLE impact, self-esteem, and self-control, a four-way MANCOVA was conducted. In this analysis, gender (boys, girls), PLE impact (high, low), self-esteem (high, low), and self-control (high, low) were the independent variables, social life events impact (high, low) was a covari-ate, and the six areas of difficulty were dependent variables. No significant interactions were found between gender, PLE impact, and the resilience fac-tors on the dependent variables.

DiscussionThe current study examined the direct and moderated relations between impact of PLE exposure and children’s social, psychological, and behavioral

1.00

1.20

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PLE impact

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High self-esteem &high self-controlHigh self-esteem &low self-controlLow self-esteem &high self-controlLow self-esteem &low self-control

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Figure 1. Psychological difficulties (child report) for children with high- and low-resilience factors according to level of political life events’ impact



Lavi and Slone 863

difficulties and possible ethnic group differences in these relationships between Jewish- and Arab-Israeli children. Results showed that high levels of PLE impact were associated with greater psychological difficulties, but not social and behavioral difficulties, for all Israeli children. Furthermore, ethnic group differences were found with Arab-Israeli children showing greater vulnerabil-ity to political violence in comparison to Jewish-Israeli children. The direct relationship between impact of PLE exposure and the child’s difficulties was retained even when moderation of resilience factors was considered.

Self-control was found to be a significant moderator of PLE. However, the protective function of resilience was different across the ethnic groups, sug-gesting differential coping mechanisms for the two groups. Arab-Israeli children showed greater vulnerability, needing both high levels of self-esteem and self-control for the alleviation of psychological difficulties. In the Jewish-Israeli group, psychological difficulties were moderated by self-control only.

Response to PLEThe first hypothesis, predicting a direct relationship between the impact of exposure to PLE and the child’s difficulties, was partially confirmed. Children with high levels of PLE impact also exhibited higher levels of psychological difficulties. However, contrary to the hypothesis, there was no similar increase in social or behavioral difficulties with high PLE impact. These results sug-gest that the child’s emotions are the most vulnerable life area affected when confronting political violence. Despite self-acknowledgment of high levels of symptoms and general stress as measured by the BSI, such as anxiety, depres-sion, hostility, and interpersonal sensitivity, children’s functioning in the social and behavioral domains remained relatively intact. Low levels of the more externalized social and behavioral indicators of distress could explain maternal lack of awareness of these emotional difficulties, as expressed in the mother report.

Ethnic group comparisons presented a more complex picture. For Jewish children, high levels of PLE impact were not associated with an increase in any of the three difficulty areas examined. However, for Arab children the pattern was reversed with high PLE impact related to increased difficulties in all three areas: social, psychological, and behavioral.

This indicates the harmful and wideranging effect that political violence exposure holds, especially for Arab children, and implies its detrimental con-sequences for normative development. These children must negotiate not only the major normative developmental tasks of personal, familial, and academic challenges but also the social, psychological, and behavioral consequences of




life in an environment of continuous conflict as well as social marginalization and discrimination as a minority group. As the violence of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues, these children are placed at considerable risk for develop-ing long-term difficulties.

For the Jewish group, no significant direct relationship emerged between PLE impact and any of the three difficulty areas. This is surprising and does not concur with findings of previous studies (Lavi & Solomon, 2005; Slone, 2006; Slone & Hallis, 1999). A possible explanation could be attributed to a statistical consequence of the particular variable selection in the current study. The current study showed that when the resilience variables were excluded from the analysis, no direct relationship between PLE impact and the child’s difficulties emerged in both the Jewish and Arab groups. Because this result differs from the previous analysis for the Arab group, it can be concluded that the resilience variables were essential for the emergence of the direct rela-tionship for Arab children. There is a possibility that consideration of other variables would have resulted in an emergence of this direct relationship in the Jewish group also. Indeed, other studies, showing a direct relationship between political violence and children’s malfunctioning, have examined other sets of variables as buffers or mediators, such as learning disabilities (Finzi-Dottan et al., 2006) or trait anxiety and coping strategies (Zeidner, 2005). Exclusion of such variables could also have resulted in a nonsignificant relation, as was the case in the Jewish group in the current study.

These results may signify an inherent asymmetry in the vulnerability of the two groups that should be seriously investigated. A plausible source for this diversity could be different meanings ascribed to political violence by the two populations, probably directly related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Together with general social and civil inequalities and ongoing discrimination (Reiter, 1996), the Arab population in Israel is frequently identified with the Palestinians casting them, as such, as part of the enemy. Violent occurrences relating to the conflict could have a special meaning for this group, not only as a source of stress in themselves but also as an additional signifier of their complex identities and unequal status. This heightened vulnerability of Arab children implies the need to target this population in times of accelerated political violence and to afford them, at the very least, equality if not priority in public health facilities, treatment, and intervention.

Moderating Effect of ResilienceThe two personal variables, self-esteem and self-control, both played a role as resilience factors, although differently across the ethnic groups. High



Lavi and Slone 865

self-control was found to shield the impact of PLE such that, even at high levels of exposure, children’s psychological difficulties did not similarly increase. Thus, a sense of self-discipline and confidence in ability to regulate emotions and behavior were an important aid in coping with political vio-lence. This infers that confrontation by constant political violence demands a degree of maturity and relinquishment of age-appropriate child-like character-istics, such as emotional latitude and reliance on external sources of control.

In contrast to self-control and, in opposition to the hypothesized pattern, self-esteem did not emerge as a significant buffer of the relationship between PLE impact and the child’s difficulties, neither as a sole factor nor in combi-nation with self-control. Although self-esteem has been acknowledged as an important factor in protecting children from consequences of stressful situa-tions (Mruk, 2006), this surprising finding indicates that feelings of self-worth and self-acceptance did not assist Israeli children in their coping with politi-cal violence.

Comprehension of these findings and their implications is complicated by the fact that the effects of the personal factors were different in the two ethnic groups. Self-esteem, which did not emerge as a significant factor in the gen-eral sample, was a significant buffer of difficulties for the Arab child. The role of self-control also differed between the groups, serving on its own as a significant resilience factor only for Jewish children but forming part of the resilience process in combination with self-esteem for Arab children.

Ethnic Differences in the Roles of Moderating VariablesSelf-esteem emerged as a significant protective factor from political violence exposure only for Arab children, whereas it had no effect for Jewish children. There is no simple or obvious explanation for this ethnic-related difference. A tentative explanation may be based on possible differences in the process of adolescent development between the two ethnic groups. The timing, mean-ing, and impact of adolescence might be different across cultures and societies depending on many factors such as tradition and parental control (Crockett, 1997). Jewish-Israeli culture is a modern, Western-oriented culture and, as such, Jewish-Israeli children aged 11, as in the study sample, could already be at the beginning of adolescence. This early adolescence stage would entail a search for autonomy and a cohesive self that consolidates different roles and identities (Erikson, 1963). The process of establishing this autonomy could be associated with a less settled sense of self in general and unstable self-esteem in particular. In these pressurized circumstances, even high levels may not serve as a protective factor.




Arab children, living in a more traditional culture and beginning adoles-cence at a later age, could be more protected. In addition, the meaning of adolescence could be different for the Arab child. Being part of a traditional society that exerts high levels of parental control (Haj-Yahia, 1994) and regards children as the property of the parents (Khoury-Kassabri, Haj-Yahia, & Ben-Arieh, 2006), Arab-Israeli children could regard themselves as an integral part of the family. Such feelings could result in a more reliable and stable self-esteem, which is based on a familial and cultural identification and thus has a more constant positive effect.

An additional explanation for the differential role of self-esteem in the two ethnic groups could relate to the role of group identification in the formation of personal self-esteem. It has been found that self-esteem of minority groups is partially based on group identification, more than the self-esteem of major-ity groups (Verkuyten, 2003). For Arab-Israelis, who are a part of the most differentiated minority in Israel, group identification is a complex issue as they consider themselves both part of the Arab-Palestinian nation and Israeli citizens. Alongside this complexity, it has been shown that the process of iden-tification with the Palestinian cause could be a source of self-esteem for Arab-Israelis (Sherer & Enbal, 2006). Thus, it is conceivable that Arab chil-dren with high self-esteem identify more strongly with the Palestinian side or view it as a just cause in the conflict more than children with low self-esteem. In either case, this positive view of the Palestinian side and identification with the Palestinian identity as additional sources of self-esteem could assist in coping with the consequences of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In line with these explanations, lack of support for the buffering role of self-esteem among Jewish children could represent a decreased role of iden-tification with the majority group in the formation of self-esteem (Verkuyten, 2003). As majority group self-esteem is less dependent on group identifica-tion, its protective role would be minimal for members of a majority group. Thus, in the context of the current study, membership in the Jewish majority sector would not contribute to the formation of personal self-esteem and, therefore, would not play a buffering role in the face of exposure to political violence.

An additional difference between the Jewish and Arab groups related to the role of self-control. Within the Jewish group, the hypothesized pattern was partially confirmed with self-control serving as a significant moderator of the relationship between PLE impact and the mother’s report of the child’s psy-chological difficulties. For Arab children, self-control played a somewhat different role in the resilience process. In the context of exposure to pro-longed political violence, self-control appeared to operate as a border resource



Lavi and Slone 867

(Hobfoll, Dunahoo, & Monnier, 1995) in which high self-control enabled the child to utilize the benefits of high self-esteem. Conversely, in cases of high self-esteem, low self-control inhibited the benefits of self-esteem.

Several questions arise from these complex relations that are beyond the scope of the present study and must be set aside for debate. One issue questions why self-control would affect the ability to utilize high levels of self-esteem, and a second issue questions why this process occurs only for Arab children. Further research with larger samples may be able to cast some light on these multifaceted processes. However, alongside these pending issues, the present results contribute to recognition of the heightened vulner-ability of Arab children emphasizing that these children need both resilience factors to be high to avoid significant life difficulties.

In conclusion, it is apparent that the differences between the Jewish and Arab groups pertain not only to a greater vulnerability of the Arab child but also to different resilience-based coping mechanisms. For Jewish children, self-control appears central in buffering the effects of political violence, whereas for Arab children, self-esteem seems to play a more important role. Recognition of these different cross-group resilience processes holds important implications for treatment and intervention planning. Public health facilities should be aware of the most vulnerable population groups requiring intervention. Furthermore, in the particular case of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, recognition of the role played by the personal factors of self-esteem and self-control, both in general and differentially across ethnic groups, could be utilized in planning interventions.

This study demonstrates cultural considerations in the understanding of both political violence and resilience. Exposure to political violence has negative consequences for children across a broad span of life domains. However, these consequences are not uniform but are dependent on factors such as personal resilience factors and the different processes by which they function across different ethnic groups. Careful attention to these complex relations is necessary for appropriate and culturally sensitive public health management.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interests with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.

Funding

This research was supported in part by a grant from The Israel Education Fund.




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Bios

Iris Lavi is a PhD student in the Department of Psychology in Tel Aviv University. Her interest areas include resilience and its promotion, parental practices and their effect on children’s development, the effects of political violence and terrorism on children, and cultural and ethnic differences.

Michelle Slone is director of the Child Clinical Graduate Program in the Department of Psychology at Tel Aviv University and a member of the governing council of the Adler Center for Research in Development and Child Psychopathology. Her interest areas include the effects of political violence and terrorism on children, resilience and its promotion, cognitive and emotional effects of media coverage of terrorism, and primary and secondary intervention for exposure to trauma.



Documents

Resilience and Political Violence: A Cross-Cultural Study of Moderating Effects Among Jewish- and Arab-Israeli Youth