The study focuses on the long-term impact of war on adolescents (N = 821) and adults (N = 870) living in a war afflicted Israeli community a year after the war. Results indicate the following: (a) stress symptoms and posttraumatic growth (PTG) correlate negatively with each other. (b) Age was positively associated with stress symptoms and negatively with PTG. (c) Economic condition predicted stress symptoms as well as PTG of adults better than exposure to traumatic events, whereas for school students the best predictor of stress symptoms was exposure to traumatic events while the best predictor of PTG was age of participants.

Her broad area of interest is coping with traumatic stress. More specifically, she has been studying the immediate reactions, and long term adjustment of both military veterans and civilians who have been exposed to war and terror. She is also involved in studies examining the topic of secondary traumatization among family members of military veterans with PTSD. In the last few years, she has been part of a Trauma Clinic in Meir General Hospital assisting terror victims.

This study examined gender differences in stress symptoms and recovery one year after the end of war, among two Israeli samples (adults n=870 and adolescents n=810). MANOVA analysis indicated that females reported higher levels of stress symptoms and lower levels of postwar recovery compared to males. Adolescents reported lower levels of stress and higher levels of recovery compared to adults. Path analysis supported the following: Gender associated negatively with family support and sense of danger. Sense of danger associated positively with symptoms and negatively with recovery, while family support associated with these variables in the opposite direction. Mediation test indicated that family support and sense of danger served as mediators between gender and recovery and between gender and stress symptoms.

This study investigated the role of sense of coherence (SOC) as a mediator between demographic attributes of individuals (gender, age, economic situation, and exposure to traumatic events during the war) and two war outcomes (postwar stress symptoms and perceived posttraumatic recovery). The participants were 870 adults (ages ranged between 20 and 85), who were affected by the Second Lebanon War and were evacuated from their home town. They were administered the research questionnaire approximately one year after this war. Path analysis indicated the following: gender, age, economic situation, and exposure were significantly associated with level of symptoms as well as perceived recovery. However, three of these connections (age, economic, and exposure) were partially mediated by SOC which was linked with lower levels of stress symptoms and higher levels of perceived posttraumatic recovery. Unlike our hypothesis, exposure by age interaction was not significantly associated with SOC and the two war outcomes. Results supported the hypotheses that SOC mediates between demographic characteristics and negative (symptoms) as well as positive (perceived recovery) war outcomes.

The diversity of responses points to heterogeneity of long-term adaptation and adjustment among Holocaust survivors and similar response to subsequent adversity.