Millions of children have been maimed, displaced, orphaned and killed in modern warfare that targets civilian populations. Several reviews have documented the impact of political trauma on children's mental health but none has focused specifically on young children (ages 0-6). Since developmental factors influence the young child's perception and experience of traumatic events, this developmental period is characterized by a unique spectrum of responses to political trauma. This systematic review, comprising 35 studies that included a total of 4365 young children, examined the effects of exposure to war, conflict and terrorism on young children and the influence of parental factors on these effects. Results showed that effects include PTSD and post-traumatic stress symptoms, behavioral and emotional symptoms, sleep problems, disturbed play, and psychosomatic symptoms. Correlations emerged between parental and children's psychopathology and, additionally, family environment and parental functioning emerged as moderators of the exposure-outcome association for children.

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Differential anxiety responses to television coverage of national threat situations and terrorism in Israel were examined. A total of 237 participants were evenly divided into two groups, each exposed to an experimental or control condition. The experimental condition involved exposure to television news clips of terrorism and threats to national security. The control condition involved equivalent-length exposure to news clips unrelated to national danger situations. Results supported the anxiety-inducing effect of the experimental condition and indicated differential demographic and dispositional responses to the footage according to gender, religiousness, and level of dogmatism. These results support the powerful effect of the mass media and advocate further exploration of links between media broadcasting of political violence and psychological processes.

Despite the flourishing in recent years in applications of positive psychology in the field of education, there is a paucity of research investigating positive psychology interventions for preschool children. The present study examined the effects of a positive psychology-based intervention conducted in Israel on children’s subjective well-being, mental health and learning behaviors. Twelve preschool classrooms of 3–6.5 year-olds were randomly assigned to a positive psychology intervention condition or a wait-list control condition. In the intervention condition, during one school year, 160 children experienced eight modules of basic concepts in positive psychology that were adapted to the developmental characteristics of young children and were compared to 155 children in demographically similar control classrooms. Children were administered a pre-test and post-test of subjective well-being measures. In addition, children’s mental health and emotional well-being were measured by parental questionnaires. Preschool teachers completed questionnaires concerning children’s learning behaviors. The findings showed significant increases in subjective well-being and positive learning behaviors among the intervention participants, with no significant changes in the control group. The results highlight the potential of positive psychology interventions for increasing subjective well-being and a positive approach to learning at young ages.

Relations between family type and psychological and parental distress and the moderating role of social support were studied for 90 Israeli lesbian mothers, single heterosexual mothers by choice and 2-parent heterosexual mothers who completed measures of psychological distress, well-being, parental distress, and direct and indirect social support. Findings indicated differences on psychological and parental outcome between mothers from the two heterosexual groups. Social support was higher for lesbian than single heterosexual mothers and was correlated with psychological and parental indices. Unique because of the distinctive demographics of Israeli society (especially in relation to Western Europe and North America), this study highlights ways in which social and individual processes affect psychological outcomes among minority groups.

The 2006 Lebanon War exposed children in the north of Israel to daily rocket attacks. To cope with the massive psychological needs, a teacher-delivered protocol focusing on enhancing personal resilience was implemented. Children were assessed for risk factors, symptoms, and adaptation before the 16-week program (Time 1; n = 983) and after its completion (Time 2; n = 563). At a 3-month follow-up (Time 3; n = 754) children were assessed together with a waiting-list comparison group (n = 1,152). Participating children showed a significant symptom decrease at Time 2 and significantly fewer symptoms than the control group at Time 3. Six or more risk factors were associated with greater symptoms and parental concern about the child's adaptive functioning. Teachers are valuable cost-effective providers for clinically informed interventions after mass trauma and disaster.

This study investigated the role of character strengths and virtues in moderating relations between conflict exposure and psychiatric symptoms among 1078 adolescents aged 13–15 living in southern Israel, who were exposed to lengthy periods of war, terrorism and political conflict. Adolescents were assessed for character strengths and virtues, political violence exposure using the Political Life Events (PLE) scale, and psychiatric symptoms using the Brief Symptom Inventory and the UCLA PTSD Index. Results confirmed that political violence exposure was positively correlated with psychiatric symptoms. Interpersonal, temperance and transcendence strengths were negatively associated with psychiatric symptoms. Moderating effects of the interpersonal strengths on the relation between political violence exposure and the psychiatric and PTSD indices were confirmed. The findings extend existing knowledge about the resilience function of character strengths in exposure to protracted conflict and have important practical implications for applying strength-building practices for adolescents who grow up in war-affected environments.

This study evaluates a school-based primary prevention intervention designed to promote adolescents' coping in the immediate aftermath of war exposure in Operation Cast Lead. Participants were 179 adolescents from two demographically similar schools in Ashkelon in south Israel. The intervention incorporated two previously proven resilience factors-mobilization of support and self-efficacy. In a repeated measures design, the study assessed pre- to post-test changes in intervention (n=94) and control (n=85) conditions among adolescents exposed to high or low political life events (PLE). Findings showed significant pre-test differences in self-efficacy and psychological symptoms between participants with low and high PLE. For both PLE groups, the intervention strengthened support mobilization and self-efficacy and reduced psychological distress and emotional symptoms. Findings reinforce the importance of offering appropriate evidence-based interventions for school staff to restore security and well-being to adolescents in a crisis context immediately following war. Despite the apparent return to a school routine after war, school staff should be aware of the risk to youth for development of psychological symptoms and disorders, and the need for preventative intervention.