Skip to main content
Log in

Parents' Perceptions of Their Children in a Context of Shared Political Uncertainty: The Case of Jewish Settlers in the West Bank Before and After the Oslo Peace Agreement

  • Published:
Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study describes the effect of a politically uncertain situation on the parents' experience and on the way they appraise their children's experience. The study focuses on Israeli families living in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) during two periods: the Intifada (the indigenous Arab population's civil uprising) and the years following the Oslo peace agreements. The results of this study indicate the importance of the specific political situation and the particular context that is created for those who experience it. The supportive context of the Israeli population created by the right-wing government affected the parents' ability to withhold their feelings during the Intifada, while the lack of support of the left-wing government increased the expression of emergency feelings by parents. The children, according to the parents' appraisal, expressed more emergency feelings than their parents did during the Intifada. The number of feelings and their intensity diminished after the Oslo Agreements. The discussion focuses on the effect of family role and its interaction with the political uncertainty on the psychological well-being of parents and children.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Boss, P. (1987). Family stress. In M. B. Sussman, & S. K. Steinmetz (Eds.), Handbook of marriage and the family (pp. 695–721). New York: Plenum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Breznitz, S. (1967). Incubation of threat. Journal of Experimental Research and Personality, 2,173–179.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cairns, E. (1996). Children and political violence. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Danieli, Y. (1996). Who takes care of the caretaker? The emotional consequences of working with children traumatized by war and communal violence. In R. J. Apfel & B. Simon (Eds.), Minefields in their hearts: The mental health of children in war and communal violence (pp. 189–205). New Haven: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Denham, S. A., Zoller, D., & Couchoud, E. A. (1994). Socialization of preschoolers' emotion understanding. Developmental Psychology, 27, 858–866.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunn, J., Brown, J., & Beardsall, L. (1988). Family talk about feeling states and children's later understanding of others' emotions. Developmental Psychology, 27, 448–455.

    Google Scholar 

  • Epstein, N. B., Bishop, D., Ryan, C., Miller, I., & Keitner, G. (1993). The McMaster model: View of healthy family functioning. In F. Walsh (Ed.), Normal family functioning (pp. 138–160). New York: The Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Erikson, E. (1950). Childhood and society. New York: Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garbarino, J., & Kostelny, K. (1996). What do we need to know to understand children in war and community violence? In R. J. Apfel & B. Simon (Eds.), Minefields in their hearts: The mental health of children in war and communal violence (pp. 33–51). New Haven: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garbarino, J., Kostelny, K., & Dubrow, N. (1991). No place to be a child: Growing up in a war zone. Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath & Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg, L. & Breznitz, S. (Eds.). (1993). Handbook of stress—theoretical clinical aspects. New York: The Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hock, S. J. (1987). Perceived consensus and predictive accuracy: The pros and cons of projection. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 53, 221–234.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jensen, P. S. (1996). Practical approaches to research with children in violent settings. In R. J. Apfel & B. Simon (Eds.), Minefields in their hearts: The mental health of children in war and communal violence (pp. 206–226). New Haven: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klein, M. (1988). Notes on some schizoid mechanism (1946). In M. Klein, Envy and gratitude and other works 1946–1963. London: Verago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krone, H. W. (1993). Vigilance and cognitive avoidance: Strategies in coping with aversiveness. Seattle: Hografe & Huber.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lazarus, R. A., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal and coping. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Osofsky, J. D. (1997). Children in violent society. New York: The Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Osofsky, J. D., & Fenichel, E. (1994). Hurt, healing and hope: Caring for infants and toddlers in violent environments. Arlington, VA: Zero to Three/National Center for Clinical Infant Programs.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenbaum, M., & Ronen, T. (1997). Parents' and children's appraisals of each other's anxiety while facing common threats. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 26, 43–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shamai, M. (1998). Therapists in distress: Team-supervision of social workers and family therapists who work and live under political uncertainty. Family Process, 37 (2), 245–259.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shamai, M. (2001). Parents' perception of their children in contexts of shared political uncertainty. Child and Family Social Work, 6, 249–260.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shamai, M., & Lev, R. (1999). Marital quality among couples living under the threat of forced relocation: The case of families in the Golan Heights. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 25, 237–252.

    Google Scholar 

  • Slaikeu, M. (1990). Crisis intervention: A handbook for practice and research. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sugarman, S., & Masheter, C. (1986). The family crisis intervention literature: What is meant by crisis? International Journal of Family Psychiatry, 7, 359–376.

    Google Scholar 

  • Umana, R. F., Gross, S. J., & McConoille, M. T. (1980). Crisis in the family. New York: Gardner.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walsh, F. (1998). Strengthening family resilience. New York: The Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Shamai, M. Parents' Perceptions of Their Children in a Context of Shared Political Uncertainty: The Case of Jewish Settlers in the West Bank Before and After the Oslo Peace Agreement. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal 19, 57–75 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014055423279

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014055423279

Navigation