On-air under fire: media and community resilience in post-heroic wars

The Assessment of Multisystemic Resilience in Conflict-Affected Populations

“…Several factors at the individual, household, community, and institutional levels have been empirically found to contribute to such positive adaptation in the context of exposure to violent conflict. At the individual level, resilience to conflict has been associated with different life skills and character strengths, including: executive skills, cognitive flexibility and persistence; emotion regulation, acceptance, self-expression, and cognitive reframing; temperance and self-control; capacity for sense-making; a hopeful outlook and optimism; social intelligence and collaborative skills; tolerance of diversity and interdependent values; sense of responsibility and commitment; capacity to appreciate resources and successes; personal agency; creativity; and a growth mindset (Ben-Atar, 2018;Betancourt & Khan, 2008;Bodas et al, 2017;Brodsky et al, 2011;Cummings et al, 2017;Eggerman & Panter-Brick, 2010;Hobfoll et al, 2012;Lavi & Stone, 2011;Levey et al, 2016;Lordos et al, 2019;Segovia et al, 2012;Shoshani & Stone, 2016;Tol, Song, & Jordans, 2013;Zraly & Nyirazinyoye, 2010). Various aspects of community support have also been extensively investigated as potential sources of resilience in war-affected populations.…”

“…Beyond the mainstream literature on conflict resilience that has been previously summarized, which emphasizes the role of psychosocial factors as sources of resilience in times of conflict, other emerging approaches highlight the role of more concrete and functional sources of resilience, such as possessing appropriate material resources, having access to relevant information, possessing technical know-how, or utilizing adaptive organizational procedures (Ager et al, 2015;Alameddine et al, 2019;Ben-Atar, 2018;Bodas et al, 2015;Brodsky et al, 2011;Cummings et al, 2017;Fazel et al, 2012;Glass et al, 2014;Panter-Brick et al, 2011;Tol et al, 2013;Witter et al, 2017). In most cases, these studies go beyond the person as unit of analysis to focus on the resilience of households or of critical institutions and infrastructures that are under threat in conflict-affected countries.…”