Exposure to ongoing terrorism: Type of community and belonging to the community as moderators of post-traumatic stress and emotional regulation

Ever since Israel was established as a state, large populations in different regions throughout the country have been exposed to terror attacks. Recently, populations living in the area near the Gaza Strip (herein Gaza Envelope) have been exposed to this security threat which is manifested mainly by rockets that are fired into rural areas. Some common aftermaths of such traumatic events are post traumatic symptoms. The many symptoms of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (herein, PTSD) may be sorted into three main categories: increased arousal (herein, hyperarousal) that accounts for a permanent anticipation of danger; re-experiencing of the traumatic event (herein, intrusion) that reflects the reoccurrence of the traumatic experience, and avoidance or reduction that generates a change people with PTSD experience with their cognition (DSM-IV, 1994, American Psychiatric Association).

Another aftermath of a traumatic event is the decrease in emotion regulation capabilities, expressed in reduction in rebalancing of emotional regulation shortly after the traumatic event. Another difficulty is a decrease in regaining of emotion regulation strategies, which is the capability to generate and regulate a wide spectrum of emotions in a manner which fits the situation.

Gaza Envelope communities are made up of various types of urban and rural communities. Sderot is a peripheral development town which is challenged by high rate of unemployment and emigration (Central Bureau of Statistics, 2012). In contrast to Sderot, the population of the Kibbutzim is homogeneous and communal. During the last few years the Kibbutzim have been organized around a close and intimate social and communal lifestyle. A Kibbutz might be characterized by features such as high quality of life, diverse cultural activities and low rates of crime. (Ben-Rafael & Topel, 2006; Blumstein et al. 2004; Stein et al., 2013).

The two types of communities differ also by their available communal resources and sense of communal belonging..A sense of belonging may be described as one of the factors that contribute to the individual’s ability to cope with the security situation (Masten, 2001; Nuttman-Shwartz, 2009). The main objective of this paper is to explain the variety in the responses of the Gaza Envelope communities to their security situation which is yielded by two communal measures: an objective one (type of community) and a subjective one (degree of community belonging). These measures correspond to coping with PTSD and to emotion regulation capability.

The sample included 122 women from Gaza Envelope Kibbutzim and the town of Sderot. Women were chosen to compose the sample as women in most cases are the main caregiver of children and their influence is educationally crucial. The research was accomplished by questionnaires that were filled-in by female participants in their homes in the presence of the research staff. The research instrument consists of four questionnaires: demographic, PTSD, emotion regulation (ECQ), and sense of communal belonging.

Research findings point to a significant negative relationship that exists between PTSD and emotion regulation capability. Moreover, in examining the link between PTSD and type of community, it was found that PTSD was higher among the Sderot participants than the Kibbutzim participants in three sub-measures – intrusion, avoidance and hyperarousal as well as in the total scores. Examining the differences in sense of community belonging between the various female participants in the two communities yielded a significant difference. The Sderot participants reported a lower rate of sense of community belonging than the Kibbutzim participants. Another anticipated finding was a significant negative relationship between community belonging and PTSD. The more the participant reported a higher level of community belonging the less she reported PTSD. In light of the changes that have been taking place in both types of communities I anticipated to find a decrease in the variance between the Sderot and the Kibbutzim residents compared to previous studies that focused on differences in community belonging, however, this hypothesis has not been proven.  These finding integrate well with the current literature that state that in order to achieve a full PTSD recovery one needs to have an efficient regulation capability, therefore difficulties in these capability may be a risk factor for developing PTSD (Besser & Priel, 2010; Ehring & Quack, 2010). Also, the thindings correspond to profound research evidences which claim that a sense of belonging is one of the main contributing factors to coping capabilities with this security situation. (Ben-Zur & Almog, 2013; Besser & Neria, 2012; Nuttman-Shwartz & Dekel, 2009;).

This research provides some central conclusions and implications: First it adds a new building block to the research about PTSD and the emotion regulation and by thus contribute largely to our understanding of intervention methods. Second, strengthening the sense of belonging in Gaza Envelope communities may increase opportunities for effective recovery, a feeling of self-efficiency and resilience. Translating the findings into action, it seams that in order to enhance the resilience of the residents of this area, their community must be strengthened.