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. Itskovitz & H. Strauss, 1982, 1986), was adapted to the situation to assess their affective reactions, social support resources, and coping on the second day after the murder. Overall, the results reveal that their reactions reflect the general adult population affective response to the assassination and resemble the responses of children found in epidemiological studies following trauma and disaster. The role played by the school as social support system is also discussed.

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. Gender and age differences are discussed, and implications of the findings for the educational system are delineated.

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. Based on factor analysis, a three-factor structure of response modes is suggested: instrumental, emotion-focused and blunting-like. Self-control was found to be associated with a lower intensity of the emotion-focused response mode. Trait anxiety did not correlate with any of the response modes.

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. Gender, age, and objective and subjective stress correctly identified 75% of the children as potential clinical or nonclinical candidates. The possible mediating coping responses and applications for high-risk groups are discussed.

Children's affective reactions and coping under threat of missile attack: a semiprojective assessment procedure.

This study reports on 170 Israeli school children at risk for missile attack during the Persian Gulf War. The Bar-Ilan Picture Test for Children (Itskowitz & Strauss, 1982, 1986) was specially adapted to the war situation specifically to measure children's affective reactions and coping strategies. Children with a greater sense of control and social support, and more complex defenses, tended to demonstrate better coping strategies. Children who were less defensive showed higher levels of anxiety under stress. Children scoring higher in social support showed greater perceived control over their immediate environment and more verbal expressivity with respect to the crisis situation. Girls scored higher than boys on emotional and verbal expressiveness. These data, elicited through semiprojective procedures, are consistent with much of the prior research based mainly on objective scales or self-report questionnaires. Overall, the results lend additional validity to the nexus of relations (largely established through conventional objective scales) between resources, coping, and outcomes in a naturalistic stressor situation.

Coping of school-age children in the sealed room during scud missile bombardment and postwar stress reactions.

Children's coping behaviors in the sealed room (a shelter against chemical and biological weapons) during scud missile attacks in the Persian Gulf war were examined in relation to postwar stress reactions. Three weeks after the war, 5th, 7th, and 10th graders (N = 492) completed questionnaires assessing coping behaviors and emotional responses in the sealed room, as well as current stress reactions and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Despite an underlying feeling of tension, the dominant emotional stance in the sealed room was one of detached optimism. Common forms of coping involved information seeking, checking, and wishful thinking. Emotion-focused coping such as avoidance and distraction strategies was associated with less postwar stress reactions than persistence at direct problem-focused actions once the minimal actions available had been undertaken. Fifth graders were found to use less emotion-focused and more problem-focused coping strategies than were the 7th and 10th graders.

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. Two hundred and thirty-seven students, drawn from six homeroom grade eight classes were randomly assigned to experimental and control (no intervention) conditions. The program consisted of seven units passed during twelve weekly one-hour sessions. Overall, the program had a positive effect on attitudes, emotions, knowledge and awareness of distress coping skills. In addition, it had some degree of face validity and social validity from the students' vantage point. These results lend support to the feasibility of a cognitive-behavioral, school-based prevention program for students' distress-coping enhancement.

Adolescents' response to nuclear threat: Before and after the chernobyl accident.

This study investigated adolescent responses to nuclear threat during intervals preceding and following the Chernobyl disaster. The Nuclear Threat Index was administered to 96 Israeli subjects two months prior to and two months following the disaster. In addition, they were tested with Rotter's Locus of Control Scale. The data results indicate that on the whole there were differences in scores between the two administrations, especially with respect to self-reported activity (behavioral subscales). Adolescents reported significantly more past nuclear-related activity before the accident as well as fewer anticipated activities after the accident. Adjusted for the preaccident score differences data reveal that after the accident younger adolescents reported less pessimism and more previous activity than the older adolescents. In addition, males reported more nuclear-related activity than females; younger males reported more past activity and less pessimism than older males; "external" males reported more activity than "internal" males. Discussion focuses on possible explanations for the results, on limitations of the investigation, and on implications for further research.

Psychoeducation: applications in community health education settings.

The development and implementation of the behavioral sciences' contribution to the health-related disciplines, depends on each discipline's willingness to develop new perspectives, make a joint effort, and present relevant challenges. This article attempts to present a collaboration modality to encourage meaningful participation of psychologists/counselors in health education within a community framework. Psychoeducation and a five-level intervention modality are suggested as the basis for new perspectives and methodologies.

Mass inoculation in a community: the effect of primary prevention of stress reactions.

This study assessed the effectiveness of a brief, situation-specific, group-administered preparatory intervention in a nonclient school population undergoing mass inoculation against rubella. Fifty-one girls were randomly assigned to practice, no-practice, or control groups. Both the practice and the no-practice groups received information that described the inoculation procedure and how to cope with it by using cognitive-behavioral coping skills. The practice group was encouraged to perform coping techniques of this type, whereas the no-practice group was told only that the intervention would help them during the inoculation. Subjects in both practice and no-practice groups reported less anxiety and exhibited more cooperative behavior during inoculation than subjects in the control group, and those who were guided and prompted to actively practice derived greater benefit.

Analysis of Israeli children's fears: a comparison of religious and secular communities.

This study examined the community intervention practice of grouping children on the basis of religious attitudes for analysing community fear responses. The study examined the differences of responses between religious and secular school populations to the Israeli Fear Survey Schedule for Children (IFSSC), an adaptation of the Wolpe and Lang (1964) Fear Survey Schedule. 283 children from secular-trend schools in Israel. 18 of the 99 items of the IFSSC (Klingman & Wiesner, 1982) showed significant differences. The study supported the continuation of the community intervention practice of grouping children on the basis of religious attitude for analyzing IFSSC responses. Religious group affiliation was found to be an influential factor in certain fear responses. The findings point to the need for investigating normative differences among subpopulations with FSS-like instruments. Pre-knowledge and the understanding of the fear level in a community is of great value for emergency-oriented consultation during a crisis. When facing an anxiety-producing situation, the focus of primary as well as early secondary prevention is reaching individuals, as well as groups, of high psychological risk (Caplan, 1964; Klingman & Ben-Eli, 1981; Ollendick & Offman, 1982; Poser & Hartmen, 1979; Shippee, Bradford & Gregory, 1982). The utilization of appropriate classification variables enhances the ability to assess the quality and the degree of reaction to stress within a community.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The relationship of proximity to tension areas and size of settlement to fear levels of Israeli children.

A children's version of the Israeli Fear Survey Schedule was administered to 171 children in the central region of Israel and to 320 children along the tense Northern border. Proximity to the border and size of settlement were found to be factors in the fear levels observed. Beyond the finding that children closer to tension areas had higher fear levels, those from small settlements had higher fear levels than those from medium or large settlements. It was proposed that the variable of population size be viewed as mediated by a sense of social isolation by the subjects in small towns.

Feedback synaptic interaction in the dragonfly ocellar retina.

The intracellular response of the ocellar nerve dendrite, the second order neuron in the retina of the dragonfly ocellus, has been modified by application of various drugs and a model developed to explain certain features of that response. Curare blocked the response completely. Both picrotoxin and bicuculline eliminated the "off" overshoot. Bicuculline also decreased the size of response and the sensitivity. gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA), however, increased the size of response. The evidence indicates the possibility that the receptor transmitter is acetylcholine and is inhibitory to the ocellar nerve dendrite whereas the feedback transmitter from the ocellar nerve dendrite may be GABA and is facilitory to receptor transmitter release. The model of synaptic feedback interaction developed to be consistent with these results has certain important features. It suggests that the feedback transmitter is released in the dark to increase input sensitivity from receptors in response to dim light. This implies that the dark potential of the ocellar nerve dendrite may be determined by a dynamic equilibrium established by synaptic interaction between it and the receptor terminals. Such a system is also well suited to signalling phasic information about changes in level of illumination over a wide range of intensities, a characteristic which appears to be a significant feature of the dragonfly median ocellar response.

Acne detergicans.

Popular brands of soaps and shampoos were assayed for comedogenicity in the rabbit ear. Only a small number produced hyperkeratosis when applied at a 25% concentration. Bacteriostatic substances, especially hexachlorophene, were mildly comedogenic. Conventional soaps include salts of fatty acids; the latter are known comedogens. The obsessive use of soaps by patients with acne vulgaris may aggravate the disease and result in its extension to unusual locations.