Families in the Sealed Room: Interaction Patterns of Israeli Families During SCUD Missile Attacks

Abstract

This study attempted to delineate styles of family interaction and behavior during war. Sixty-six families were randomly selected during the first week of the Gulf War and were telephone-interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Qualitative methodology was used to analyze the interview transcripts. Three themes emerged: the emotional atmosphere (degree of expressed stress), mode of family organization, and extent and form of interpersonal relationship. When these categories were considered, four types of families were found: (1) the Anxious Family, characterized by high level of stress, low role distribution, negative interaction style; (2) the Cautious Family, with high stress, clear role allocation, positive interaction among members; (3) the Confident Family, typified by low stress level, clear role allocation, and positive non-interaction; and (4) the Indifferent family, characterized by low stress level, no role allocation, and negative non-interaction. These findings are discussed in terms of recent attempts to clarify the concept and describe the process of family coping, as well as in terms of understanding family behavior in other stressful situations.

Families under war: Stresses and strains of Israeli families during the Gulf war

“…The three factors discussed above--sources of stress, perception of the situation and the effect of the war on the family-eem to complement the characteristics of the four family types described earlier (Ben-David and Lavee, 1992). When the findings of the present study are combined with those presented previously, the following features of the four types of families emerge: Anrious famifies were characterized by high anxiety level and a catastrophic perception of the war situation.…”

“…They reported being affected both by the external threat and by internal strains in the family. As has been reported elsewhere (Ben-David and Lavee, 1992), these families, under the extreme moments of stress (missile attacks), were unable to organize themselves effectively in terms of role allocation, and the anxiety level was apparent in the interpersonal tension, conflicts and negative interactions among family members.…”

“…The second purpose is to further examine the characteristics of the four family types described above (Ben-David 6r Lavee, 1992) by specifying the sources of stress and perceived effect of the war in the four types of families.…”

“…In the final phase of the analysis, the sources of stress, perception of the situation, and the perceived effect of the war experience on the family were examined in each of the four types of family interaction patterns (Ben-David and Lavee, 1992). Table I depicts the four types along with their prevalent sources of stress and their perceptions of the situation.…”

“…In a previous study (Ben-David and Lavee, 1992), four types of family dynamics-the Anxious, Cautious, Secure, and Indifferent-ere delineated according to their emotional atmosphere (level of anxiety), role allocation, and patterns of interpersonal interaction, at the time of peak stressful situations of the war. In the present study, three additional factors--sources of stress, perception of the war situation, and perceived effect of the war on the f a m i l y e r e examined to further examine the family's reaction to war and the related characteristics of the four family types.…”