Bibliographic details:
Kimhi, S., & Shamai, M. (2004). Community resilience and the impact of stress: Adult response to Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon. Journal of Community Psychology, 32(4), 439-451.
Abstract:
Against the background of the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, we investigated the relationship between perceived community resilience and the effect of stress and life satisfaction. The research sample included 741 adults, aged 18–85. The participants were divided into four groups, three of which live close to the Israel–Lebanon border and were directly exposed to the threat created by war and terror. The fourth group was considered as a control group and included subjects from the central region of Israel, who were not directly exposed to the war with Lebanon and to the possible outcomes of withdrawal. Questionnaires were distributed to the participants immediately after the withdrawal from Lebanon and were completed by them between 1 and 3 weeks after the withdrawal. The items were designed to measure perceived community resilience, the effects of stress, and life satisfaction, and demographic background. The results show that the level of threat has a significant impact on community resilience, namely, that living in situations with a high level of threat over a long period of time results in a lower level of community resilience. In addition, community resilience serves as a partial mediator between the level of threat and the effect of stress and life satisfaction. The results highlight the importance of perceived community resilience as an individual resource for coping with the threat created by war and terror, thereby connecting between micro‐ and macro‐levels in events related to political violence.