Psychological distress and well-being among traumatized Palestinian women during the intifada

Abstract

Little is known about the ways in which Palestinian women who were subjected to political violence during the intifada coped with stress. This study investigated the extent to which differences in the presence of trauma, political and normative stressors, family resources, family coping, and family hardiness could account for variation in women psychological distress and well-being. Results indicated that normative stressors were more predictive of psychological distress and well-being than was the presence of trauma or political stressors. However, political stressors and normative stressors had albeit different effects on the mental health status of both traumatized and non-traumatized women. While the social-psychological resources of women were found to be negatively related to psychological distress and well-being, the sociodemographic resources had different patterns of relations. Also, family hardiness was evidenced to have an influence on perceived psychological distress among traumatized and non-traumatized women, whereas effective coping and supportive resources may directly affect functioning among traumatized women only. The clinical and policy implications of these conclusions were discussed.