Political violence in retrospect: Its effect on the mental health of Palestinian adolescents

Abstract

The aim of this study has been to examine the effect of retrospective report of political violence during the first Intifada (1987—1993) on psychological adjustment of 1185 Palestinian adolescents (10th to 12th graders) seven years after the first Intifada had ended. Analysis of the inter-relations was conducted between self-reported measures of political violence, socio-demographic characteristics, perceived parents' psychological adjustment problems and internalizing (i.e., somatization, withdrawal, anxiety, and depression) and externalizing (i.e., thought, attention and social problems, delinquent and aggressive behaviors) symptoms. It showed the significant net effect of retrospectively reported exposure to political violence on both internalizing symptoms and externalizing symptoms over and above the effect of socio-demographic characteristics and perceived parents' psychological adjustment problems. The discussion addresses the meaning of these results in light of the conceptual and methodological limitations of this study.