Strictly-Orthodox are the Israeli group least stressed by the war, study reveals

Professor Liat Kulik (Image: The Louis and Gabi Weisfeld School of Social Work)[Missing Credit]

The “general Jewish” group came second in terms of resource loss, but were found to use strong coping mechanisms such as productivity and practical thinking.

The Arab participants reported the highest levels of resource loss across nearly all areas, including financial stability, social connections and faith, as well as a decline in emotional resilience. Arab participants were also found to use less healthy coping mechanisms such as denial and medication.

Kulik said: “These differences may be linked to the varying levels of social and community resources that groups bring into a crisis,” as reported by Israeli news outlet YNet.

“In strictly-Orthodox society, dense community support networks and strong religious faith may provide spiritual resources that act as fuel for coping,” the professor said.

The study found that despite the differences between the three demographic groups, there was one feature they shared: women in every group reported higher levels of psychological distress.

According to Kulik, this may be down to the emotional burden of caring for family members and heightened responsibility.

The study also found that older people and more highly educated people fared better mentally in wartime than those younger and less educated.