Consequences of continuous exposure to a security threat on child adjustment: The moderating role of community and the relationship with the mother

The Gaza Envelope has been exposed to the shelling of Qassam rockets for fifteen years. Children who were born in the area since then have never known a time when they weren't being subjected to prolonged situations of uncertainty, anxiety and a feeling of not having a “safe place.” The existing research, however, has been  directed primarily at describing the resulting implications of this prolonged exposure on adults and adolescents (Stein et al., 2013; Yablon, Itzhaky, & Pagorek-Eshel, 2011), while its effects on children's adjustment in general - and on school-aged children’s adjustment in particular – has hardly been explored at all. In accordance with Bronfenbrenner's (1986) Ecological Model, Harvey's (1996, 2007) ecological view of psychological trauma and trauma recovery, and  Hobfoll’s Theory of Conservation of Resources (1989), the current study examined the connection between living under a continuous security threat, child’s gender, type of community, motherhood dimensions, and adjustment of school-aged children. The existing literature on  differences in children’s adjustment reveals that girls experience greater emotional distress following exposure to security threats, while boys exhibit larger amounts of aggressiveness and behavioral problems (Braun-Lewensohn, 2012).   The primary objective of this research was therefore to examine the adjustment of school-aged children, while taking into account the child’s gender.

Community can play a strengthening and holding role both for adults in their parental role and children (Cohen, 2009). The current research relates to two types of communities which are unique to Israel: the development town and the kibbutz. Previous studies have found that residents of the Gaza Envelope rural areas – i.e., the kibbutzim and moshavim – had a stronger communal sense of belonging, faith in the army and state leaders, as well as a greater amount of economic and social resources than did residents from the development town of Sderot (e.g., Dekel & Nuttman-shwartz, 2009; Gelkopf et al., 2012). The second objective of this research was therefore to examine the relationship between community type and children's adjustment under conditions of a prolonged security threat.

Parental functioning also plays a decisive role in the resilience of children who are living in the midst of distressing circumstances (Masten & Narayan, 2012). A high level of parental care combined with a low level of parental overprotection has been found to be linked with positive effects on the mental health of children and adolescents (Dekel & Solomon, 2014). However, the need to cope on a permanent basis with chronic exposure to the perilous situation that characterizes the Gaza Envelope has led to mothers being depleted of their emotional and psychological resources and increased their distress (Somer & Ataria, 2014), to the extent that their motherhood dimensions are at risk. Hence, the third objective of this research was to shed light on the role of community type and motherhood dimensions in moderating the consequences of exposure to an ongoing security threat, beyond mother's PTSD symptoms.

The hypotheses of this research predicted that a negative relationship would exist between prolonged exposure to a security threat and children’s adjustment. In addition a relational link was hypothesized to exist between children’s gender and their adjustment, so that lower behavioral adjustment would be found in boys compared to girls and lower emotional adjustment would be found in girls compared to boys. A link was also hypothesized to exist between the type of community in which the children lived and children's adjustment: a lower adjustment among the children of Sderot than among the children of the kibbutzim was therefore expected to be found.  Additionally, it was hypothesized that a positive relationship would exist between optimal maternal behavior – namely, a high level of care and low level of overprotection – and positive children’s adjustment. And finally it was hypothesized that the association between continuous exposure to a security threat and a child's adjustment would be dependent on the type of community and motherhood dimensions.

Data analysis was conducted on 121 mother-child dyads, in which the children ranged in age from seven to 12 years old.  All of these families – 63 from Sderot (51.1%) and 58 from the Gaza Envelope kibbutzim (47.9%) –had been exposed to a prolonged security threat in their residential area.  Data collection was initiated in May 2012 and ended in December 2013. Mothers completed  the following questionnaires: Goodman’s Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire, which assesses both the child’s behavioral difficulties and his/her pro-social behavior  (Goodman, 1997); a questionnaire that collects details about prolonged exposure to a security threat, (which was based on other questionnaires which had previously gathered data in the same region, such as that of Soskolne, Dekel, Vinker and Blichmann, 2011); the PTSD questionnaire (Solomon,  Benbenishty, Neria, Abramowitz, Ginzburg, & Ohry, 1993), and a questionnaire which required the listing of  demographic details. Children completed  the UCLA PTSD Reaction Index (Steinberg, Brymer, Decker, & Pynoos, 2004) and a questionnaire about other life events (which was based on  Steinberg et al., 2004). Both mothers and children completed, separately, the Parental Bonding Instrument (Parker, Tupling, & Brown, 1979).

Research hypotheses were partially supported. Because the Gaza Envelope is a relatively small geographical area and has endured a security threat for a long time, it has not yielded much variance in its populations’ exposure to security threats, and as such, the only significant relationship that was found was a negative relationship between exposure to injury/damage and behavioral difficulties. Findings also showed that gender differences in children’s adjustment were manifested mainly in greater behavioral difficulties in boys compared to girls, and greater pro-social behavior in girls compared to boys. In contrast, the PTSD questionnaires which were filled out independently by children did not reveal significant differences related to the child's gender. Gender did make a difference in terms of maternal sheltering and caring for their children:  i.e., a higher level of care was reported by both mothers of girls, and girls, whereas a higher level of overprotection was reported by mothers of boys, and boys.

Regarding community contribution, findings pointed to greater vulnerability among Sderot residents than among kibbutz residents. The socioeconomic status of Sderot mothers was lower than that of kibbutz mothers. Furthermore, the number of negative life events, exposure to injury/damage, mothers’ PTSD symptoms, and children's behavioral difficulties were all greater in Sderot than they were in the surrounding kibbutzim.

Regarding motherhood dimensions, the level of care exhibited by mothers towards their children was high, and a significant relationship was not found between care and children’s adjustment. By contrast, maternal overprotection was related to children’s adjustment; children’s self-reports revealed a positive relationship between maternal overprotection and PTSD. A positive relationship was also found between mother’s self-reported overprotection and children’s behavioral difficulties.

When one examines the model of the study, the picture that emerges in regard to the exposure to injury/damage-adjustment relationship is more complex than what was initially expected.  The variants exposure to injury/damage and community type didn’t contribute directly in explaining the variance of any of the adjustment variables. Maternal PTSD directly contributed to explaining the variance in behavioral difficulties; it made a moderating contribution to the exposure to injury/damage-child PTSD relationship, and it became clear that it was a variant with central importance to children’s adjustment. Maternal overprotection contributed directly in explaining the variance in a child’s PTSD; it also made a moderating contribution to the exposure to injury/damage- behavioral difficulties relationship. The care dimension contributed positively only in explaining pro-social behavior.

These research findings point to the important role played by communal and familial environments in the optimal adjustment of school-aged children who are faced with a prolonged security threat. The existence of gaps between kibbutz and Sderot residents in terms of both spiritual and material resources emerged. Concomitantly, the way in which mothers experience their exposure to the security threat, namely their distress, can also predict their children's adjustment.  Both maternal distress and children’s capability to adjust to exposure seem to be related to the type of community in which they live and the level of resources therein. Thus both children and mothers who are exposed over a long period of time to a security threat need a beneficent environment. Therefore, an investment in the strengthening of the Sderot infrastructure – its institutions and communal services – is needed in order to provide a concrete and supportive anchor to support both mothers and their children.