Socioeconomic Status, Intergroup Daily Contact and Identity Strategies: The Case of Palestinian Muslim and Christians Citizens of Israel

Our research deals with “intergroup relation†and relates to the way individuals from specific groups perceive people from the “other†group. Do they tend to separate from them, or to integrate between the two cultures, and how they build social interactions with them (Berry, 1990). Based on a theoretical and research frame of intergroup relations, the relations between two minority groups are studied: Palestinian Muslim and Christian Citizens of Israel—two Palestinian Arab religious groups, living in the state of Israel, where the dominant group is Jews.The current study examined the relations between socioeconomic status (SES) and identity and acculturation strategies in relations between groups At first, the research model examined the differences between Muslims and Christians. Then, the relations between SES (independent variable) and the adoption of the strategies (dependent variable) among the two groups. As expected, significant differences were found between Muslims and Christians in most variables. Christians reported higher levels of SES than Muslims. In addition, Christians adopted more social competition, while Muslims tended more to adopt integration. Possible explanations for the findings are presented in the discussion. Further study could examine whether the findings of the current study were changed by the events occurring in the Arab world from 2011 to 2014: the government coups, civil wars and the horrendous acts of the terrorist organization “ISIS†in various Arab countries

Salutogenesis for thriving societies

Settings are defined by the World Health Organization (1998) as “the place or social context in which people engage in daily activities in which environmental, organizational, and personal factors interact to affect health and well-being.” Such settings range from small-scale home/family to (international) organizations and large cities and thus differ in size, in their degree of formalized organization and their relationships to society. The chapters in Part V review how salutogenesis has been applied to health promotion research and practice in a broad range of settings: organizations in general, schools, higher education, workplace, military settings, neighborhood/communities, cities, and restorative environments. The following synthesis demonstrates that applying salutogenesis to various settings and linking salutogenesis with other models established in these settings has the great potential to generate ideas on how to advance the general salutogenic model

When education meets conflict : Palestinian and Jewish-Israeli parental attitudes towards peace promoting education

The present study examines parental attitudes toward bilingual and peace-promoting education at a school in Israel, and how these affect the behaviors and perceptions of their children studying there. The questions of interest were: (a) what are the parents' perceptions of and attitudes toward the bilingual and peace-promoting education? (b) Are these attitudes in line with the school's ideological framework? (c) How might parental perceptions and attitudes affect the success of the educational endeavor and the children's experiences at this school? Twenty-one Jewish and Palestinian Israeli parents of children attending a bilingual school in Israel partook in this study. A semi-structured interview was used to investigate the perceptions and attitudes of the parents, and the data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings indicate that the majority of the parents sent their children to the school for reasons other than the peace-promoting and ideological framework it offers. Essentially, parents were looking to provide their children with a better education than the one available in their immediate residential area. Concurrently, it was found that the parental attitudes appeared to influence children's behavior negatively. The implications of these attitudes and the impact of the school towards peace promotion are discussed.24 page(s

Individual, social and national coping resources and their relationships with mental health and anxiety : A comparative study in Israel, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands during the Coronavirus pandemic

Employing the salutogenic model, we asked how individuals in different countries cope with the COVID-19 crisis and stay healthy. We were interested in exploring the individual (i.e. sense of coherence) as well as the social and national resources (i.e. social support, sense of national coherence, and trust in governmental institutions) that could explain levels of mental health and anxiety during the outbreak of the pandemic. Data collection was conducted via convenience sampling on online platforms, during the end of March and the beginning of April 2020. The data included four samples: 640 Israeli participants (319 males), 622 Dutch participants (177 males), 924 Italian participants (338 males) and 489 Spanish participants (117 males); age range of 18–88 years. The questionnaires included standard tools (MHC-SF, GAD-7, SOC, SONC). Several questions were adapted to the context of coronavirus and measured levels of exposure to COVID-19, trust in governmental institutions, and social support. The results significantly confirmed the suggested salutogenic model regarding the contribution to individual and national coping resources to anxiety levels and mental health. The patterns of the coping resources in explaining anxiety and mental health were similar in the four samples, and SOC was the main predictor these outcomes. Despite these similarities, a different pattern and also different magnitudes of the predictive value of the coping resources were found for the two different reactions: anxiety vs. mental health. While SOC and situational factors (like financial threat) were significant in explaining anxiety levels, the SOC and national resources were found as significant in explaining mental health levels. The findings support the salutogenic approach in studying reactions during pandemic time. They also shed some light on the difference between pathogenic and salutogenic measures in studying psychological reactions to stressful situations.</p