Israeli children's reactions to the assassination of the Prime Minister.

The assassination of Israel's Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by a political opponent caused disbelief, shock, anxiety, and deep grief in the Israeli society. This study reports on 229 4th-grade children's responses to the traumatic event 2 days after it occurred. In the present study, a semi-projective measure, the Bar-Ilan Picture Test for Children (R.

Psychological education: studying adolescents' interests from their own perspective.

This study investigated the major areas of interest to Israeli adolescents. An instrument was developed to determine relevant psychological/life-skills domains. Factor analysis revealed nine clusters of variables reflecting the following concerns: self-destructive behavior, close relationships, opposite-sex relations, school, military service, future vocation, physical fitness, social life, and health.

Response style and self-control under scud missile attacks: the case of the sealed room situation during the 1991 Gulf war.

The interrelationships of coping responses, self-control and trait anxiety in Israeli university students during the 1991 Gulf war were investigated. Respondents (35 male and 58 female students) responded to a battery of questionnaires at the end of the war to assess these variables. Their responses, which referred to the sealed room situation, were characterized by attempts to help others and relatively low emotion-focused reactions.

Stress reaction of school-age children to the bombardment by SCUD missiles.

Stress reactions of 5th-, 7th-, and 10th-grade children (N = 492) exposed to missile attacks during the Persian Gulf War were examined a month after the war by a questionnaire that assessed level of exposure to trauma and psychological symptoms. Higher stress responses were obtained in areas hit and were influenced by proximity to sites or individuals involved in actual damage. Gender, age, and region interacted such that 5th-grade boys reported the highest stress reactions regardless of region, whereas 5th-grade girls reported the highest stress responses only in regions hit.

Coping with distress and self harm: the impact of a primary prevention program among adolescents.

The effectiveness of a school-based primary prevention psychological program is assessed in the present study. The program was designed to (a) improve students' distress-coping, (b) prepare them as "gatekeepers" with regard to self-destructive behavior of peers and (c) assess the program's face validity and social validity. The program was primarily based on cognitive-behavioral modification principles, procedures and techniques.