The Association Between Right-Wing Political Ideology and Youth Distress

Abstract

The study examines the association between ideological worldviews among youth and the sense of distress resulting from political events. It examines two hypotheses: the first is that events that contradict ideological worldviews are associated with greater distress levels and the second is that the higher the level of ideological commitment, the higher the distress level will be, regardless of the type of stressor. Therefore this study examines distress levels among right-wing adolescents exposed to two different political stressors: (a) Palestinian terror-which matches their right-wing ideology that regards the Palestinians as an enemy, and (b) the evacuation of settlements-which contradicts their right-wing ideology. As expected, higher distress levels were found during evacuation of settlements, compared to the response to Palestinian terror. It was also found that ideological commitment was positively associated with levels of distress with regard to both stressors.

Does Fear of Terrorism Differ From Fear of Crime and Sexual Assault: A Question of Geographical Location and Residential Area

“…Over the years, those living in areas of conflict have been exposed to attacks, both directly and indirectly through the injury or death of friends. For this reason, Israel can serve as an important laboratory for examining these aspects (Laufer, Shechory, & Solomon, 2009; Shechory-Bitton, 2013). However, fear of terrorism has only been examined in a small number of studies (e.g., Nellis, 2009).…”

Competing Etiologies of Trauma and the Mediation of Political Suffering: The Disengagement from the Gaza Strip and West Bank in Secular and Religious Therapeutic Narratives

“…Based on the assumption that ideology is a key part of their identity, the authors assert that the gap between ideological beliefs and the political reality of the Disengagement had the potential to cause a crisis accompanied by feelings of distress among Religious Zionist youth. Laufer et al (2009) make a similar claim concerning the relationship between ideological outlooks among right-wing youth and their level of distress following Palestinian terrorist acts against settlements and settlers' forced evacuation. This study hypothesized, first, that an event that counters one's ideological beliefs will be associated with distress and, second, that levels of ideological commitment and distress are positively correlated.…”

“…Laufer et al. () make a similar claim concerning the relationship between ideological outlooks among right‐wing youth and their level of distress following Palestinian terrorist acts against settlements and settlers’ forced evacuation. This study hypothesized, first, that an event that counters one's ideological beliefs will be associated with distress and, second, that levels of ideological commitment and distress are positively correlated.…”

Risk-resilience dynamics of ideological factors in distress after the evacuation from Gush Katif.

“…This association may be attributed to the sense of security, predictability, and certainty implied by strong ideological convictions. Although political ideology makes political stressors more comprehensive and less threatening (Laufer et al, 2009), when one's worldview is contradicted or threatened by political events ideology may fail to provide the sense of security that makes coping with stressors easier.…”

“…Although ideological convictions might help maintain psychological equanimity and give meaning to extreme traumatic events (e.g., Punamäki, Qouta, & El-Sarraj, 2001), ideological commitment may also function as a vulnerability factor in coping with political stressors. Strong ideological commitment among Jewish settlers was specifically found to be positively associated with distress (Laor et al, 2006;Laufer, Shechory, & Solomon, 2009). In an attempt to explain these mixed findings, Laufer and her colleagues (2009) postulated that the effects of ideological commitment on mental health are dependent on the content of ideology.…”