Resilience in Israel during the Coronavirus crisis

A new study by Prof. Shaul Kimchi, Prof Yohanan Eshel and Dr. Hadas Marciano from the Stress and Resilience Research Center in Tel-Hai College, in collaboration with Dr. Beruria Adini, head of the Department of Emergency Management and Disaster Medicine in the School of Public Health, Sackler Faculty of Medicine in the Tel Aviv University

 

Summary

1. The present study examined resilience indicators and other variables in Israel
during the Coronavirus crisis. The sample included 761 respondents, of whom
605 were Jewish Israelis and 156 were Arab Israelis.

 

2. The sense of danger among the two samples is significantly higher compared to
previous research conducted on the general population in Israel in the summer of
2018. Furthermore, the Arab respondents report a significantly higher level of a
sense of danger, compared with the Jewish respondents.

 

3. The study indicates an intermediate level of distress symptoms, which is higher
compared to previous measurements, among both population groups. More so,
the Arab respondents report a significantly higher level of distress symptoms
compared with the Jewish respondents.

 

4. National resilience in this study is high, remaining unchanged compared to
previous measurements. The Jewish respondents, as expected, reported a higher
level of national resilience compared with the Arab respondents.

 

5. Community resilience is high in the current study, and more so, higher compared
with findings of a national resilience research that was conducted in the summer
of 2018. Jewish respondents report a higher level of community resilience
compared with Arab respondents.

 

6. Individual resilience was found to be high in both samples, though compared to
findings from a previous study that was conducted among a sample of Jewish
respondents, it was lower. In the present study, no difference in personal
resilience was found between the two samples (Jewish Israelis and Arab Israelis).

 

7. Examining perceived threats (from an economic, health, security and political point of view) indicates that Jewish respondents consider the political crisis as the most significant risk, followed by the economic risk. Arab respondents also
perceive the political threat as the most significant risk, but the security risk is perceived as the second most significant threat.

 

8. The level of morale among the respondents is high medium. The morale of the
Jewish respondents is significantly higher, compared with the Arab respondents.

 

9. Examining the variables that significantly predict a sense of danger during the
Coronavirus crisis, we found that in both samples, individual resilience
significantly predicts the sense of danger.
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10. A significant predictor of sense of danger among the Jewish respondents was
gender while among the Arab respondents, the highest predictor is economic
difficulties and individual resilience.

 

11. The best predictor of distress symptoms among the Jewish respondents was
well-being while among the Arab respondents the best predictors were education
and well-being: the higher education and wellbeing, the fewer distress symptoms
reported.