Uncertainty, forced relocation, and community role in coping with stress: the case of residents in the Golan Heights

This study investigates the degree and nature of demands that become stressors and of personal resources (potency, psychological sense of community, education, political orientation, family status, and sex) that dispel stress among residents of communities with different degrees of communality in the Golan Heights (a former Syrian territory, annexed by Israel in 1967). The sample consisted of 295 men and 332 women from four communities with different levels of communality: a kibbutz, a religious village, a secular village, and an urban center. The findings revealed differences between communities in the impact of demands and resources. Potency contributed the most in coping with stress among urban residents, secular village residents, and kibbutz members, whereas family status was found to be the most influential resource in coping with stress among religious village residents. The level of stress in men residing in religious villages was found to be higher than that in women residing in religious villages as opposed to urban residents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)