Existential concerns, assumptive world, and alienation among Kashmiri youth exposed to collective violence: Do the theoretical models fit target population?

Abstract

Research with populations exposed to violence and wars have grown in recent years; however, such efforts have tilted more toward trauma-focused psychiatric epidemiology. The present study attempted to investigate the nature of existential concerns, assumptive world, and alienation among Kashmiri youth exposed to collective violence. Participants, from 15 to 24 years old, were first verbally screened for exposure to collective violence and then interviewed in detail. Thematic analysis showed death anxiety, future anxiety, and limits on freedom as the major existential concerns among the participants. Similarly, their assumptive world included benevolence/nonbenevolence of people and world, self-worth, and optimism-pessimism about Kashmir and its situation. The major themes pertaining to their feelings of alienation were meaninglessness, social estrangement, political alienation, and national-identity alienation. Themes identified regarding exposure to collective violence were victimization, witnessing of violence, and direct-indirect exposure to violence. Overall, the results are in line with the prior findings reported in the literature pertaining to the Kashmiri context. However, some new dimensions peculiar to target population also emerged, and findings demonstrate a need for the theoretical model on exposure to collective violence. Public Significance StatementThis study advances the idea to investigate exposure to violence beyond trauma and found certain results-such as future anxiety, negative assumptions about people and world, and political and national-identity alienation-in the target population not originally suggested by theoretical models informing the selected variables.