Israeli Youth Research Articles

The relationship between mentoring on healthy behaviors and well-being among Israeli youth in boarding schools: a mixed-methods study.

BackgroundAlthough 10% of Israeli youth live in boarding schools, few studies, except for those focusing on mental health, have examined the well-being of this population subgroup. Thus, the aims of this study were to explore: (1) the prevalence rates of five aspects of well-being (i.e., healthy habits, avoidance of risky behaviors, peer relationships, adult relationships, and school environment) in youth residing at Israeli boarding schools; (2) the relationships between youth well-being and youth perception of their mentor; and (3) the different subgroups of youth with higher rates of risky and healthy behaviors.MethodsThis study used a mixed-methods approach including a quantitative survey of youth (n = 158) to examine the association between youth behaviors and perception of their mentor; and a qualitative study consisting of interviews (n = 15) with boarding school staff to better understand the context of these findings.ResultsGreater proportions of boarding school youth, who had positive perceptions of their mentor (the significant adult or parent surrogate), believed both that their teachers thought they were good students (p < 0.01), and that they themselves were good students (p < 0.01). This finding is supported by the qualitative interviews with mentors. Youth living in a boarding school had very similar healthy habits compared to other youth living in Israel; however, youth in the general population, compared to those in the boarding schools, were eating more sweets (OR = 1.39, 95% CI = 1.02-1.90) and engaging in higher levels of television use (OR = 2.64, 95% CI = 1.97-3.54).ConclusionsMentors, the significant adult for youth living in residential education environments, have a major influence on school performance, the major focus of their work; mentors had no impact on healthy behaviors. Overall, there were many similarities in healthy behaviors between youth at boarding schools and youth in the general population; however, the differences in healthy habits seemed related to policies governing the boarding schools as well as its structural elements.

The Missing Beat Generation: Coming of Age and Nostalgism in Arik Einstein's Music

The singer-songwriter Arik Einstein (1939–2013) long ago secured his place in the Israeli cultural pantheon. Prolific and versatile, Einstein is often considered the singer who recorded the first Israeli rock album, importing sophisticated Anglo-American music to Israel. Soon thereafter, though, Einstein refashioned himself as a melancholic and nostalgic singer. Moving from musicology to cultural history, this article places Einstein’s musical career in a larger cultural and sociopolitical context. I read Einstein’s music against the backdrop of a failed attempt to construct Israeli youth culture during the late 1960s and highlight the affinity between this cultural project and the short-lived political attempt to forge a New Israeli Left. I then examine Einstein’s switch to nostalgia, which should be read as an ironic and reflective nostalgia that ultimately helped create a distinctively Israeli sense of home coupled with a critical and alienated sense of not being at home.

Ego-Identity among Immigrant Dropout Youth

The present study examined the differences between native-born Israeli youth and immigrant youth, both dropouts and those that persevere with their studies, with regard to level of ego identity formation. The study was conducted among adolescents aged 13-18, of whom 191 (39.9%) were native-born Israelis and 288 (60.1%)-new immigrants. 239 of the adolescents were persevering students while 240 were dropouts. The comparison between native-born and immigrant youth revealed no difference in ego identity levels; however, when dropouts were compared to persevering students, the lowest level of ego identity was found among adolescents who dropped out of school, regardless of ethnic origin, age or sex.

Comparing online opportunities and risks among Israeli children and youth Hebrew and Arabic speakers

This study explores the relationships between application usage, online communication patterns, problematic Internet use (PIU) of online applications, and online self-disclosure among children from culturally different groups. An online survey was administered in Hebrew and Arabic among 3867 Israeli 7–17 year old, including Jews, Arabs, and Bedouins. The level of PIU was relatively low—only 9.5% scored “very high” in the PIU index. For all the groups the highest level of communication was reported for safe interactions with family and friends, lower level for purely virtual communication with online acquaintances, and the lowest level for meeting online acquaintances face-to-face. However, various forms of the online communication patterns and use of applications differed across the groups, suggesting cultural diversity in Internet usage among children in the same country. PIU and self-disclosure explained 47.3% of variance in risky e-communication activities (e.g. sending ones' photos to online acquaintances, providing them with a school or home address, and meeting them face-to-face), as well as 34.4% of variance in exposure to unpleasant online experiences (e.g. receiving messages, pictures, or videos that make the children feel uncomfortable). However, both PIU and self-disclosure were unrelated to educational activities and to the use of educational applications.

Is the Center Still Out There?

Jackie Feldman. Above the Death Pits, Beneath the Flag: Youth Voyages to Poland and the Performance of Israeli National Identity. New York: Berghahn Books, 2010. Pp. xix + 307.Shaul Keiner. Tours That Bind: Diaspora, Pilgrimage and Israeli Birthright Tourism. New York: New York University Press, 2010. Pp. xxv + 261.Jewish educational tourism is one of the most important innovations in Jewish education in recent decades. Programs in which Jewish teens or young (emerging) adults are taken to a foreign countiy in a group together with a closed itineraiy and a guide and staff in order to achieve educational or identity goals have become veiy popular in the past two decades, with many claims of success. To this date 300,000 American young adults have participated in the Birthright tours of Israel. A similar number of Israeli teenagers have participated in trips to the death camps of Poland sponsored (in the mam) by the Israeli Ministiy of Education.The books under review here provide ethnographies of these two programs. Jackie Feldman's Above the Death Pits, Beneath the Flag concerns Israeli youth voyages to Poland, and Shaul Keiner's Tours That Bind concerns Birthright tours of Israel. In many ways the books are similar: each derives from doctoral research and is based on participant observation by the author. In addition to studying the respective programs as academic ethnographers, each author served on the staff of these programs. Both books contain extensive introductions detailing their authors' personal involvement and assessment of their experiences. Such an account is, of course, a requirement in contemporaiy ethnography, inasmuch as we became aware in the 1980s that ethnographic accounts are not recorded but rather constructed and that the ethnographer plays an active role in the construction of such ethnographic data. (I am not sure, however, that such a methodological requirement necessarily means that we have to learn exactly how many times and in what circumstances Keiner broke up and got back together again with his girlfriend/wife.) Both books provide historical, institutional, and educational background to the development of the tours. They also provide detailed ethnographic descriptions of the programs together with thoughtful analysis. Both authors are aware that the programs they study are employed to heighten forms of Jewish and Israeli identification favored by political establishments, and they are also aware that the programs are accused of furthering specific but less stated political agendas.Despite these resemblances, these two books consciously employ two veiy different research paradigms and, in the end, describe two veiy different experiences. For Feldman the Israeli youth voyages to Poland are pilgrimagey; for Keiner, Birthright trips are tourism. To one degree or another, each author is aware of the paradigm not chosen; Keiner, in fact, devotes extensive discussion to why he rejects the construction of Birthright as a pilgrimage - a discussion that is in dialogue with Feldman. It would seem, moreover, that the choice of these respective paradigms not only reflects the proclivities of the researchers but also points to characteristics of the respective programs themselves. As such it opens an aperture to a series of questions concerning contemporaiy Jewish life.Feldman's underlying and explicit assumption is that the trips to the death camps in Poland involve an encounter with transcendent meaning. This premise, he makes clear, derives from is own personal encounters with the death sites of the Holocaust, as the son of Holocaust survivors and from his observations of participants of the youth voyages to Poland. At the end of the preface he formulates this in metatheoretical terms:My attachment. . . leads me to eschew theories that would limit human freedom to isolated points of resistance between massive forces of hegemony. To suspect theories that would explain deeply felt experience solely in terms of relations of knowledge and power. …

Bully versus victim on the internet: The correlation with emotional-social characteristics

Cyberbullying is a repeated violent behavior aimed at hurting another person directed by an individual or a group towards the victim using technological means such as a computer or a mobile phone (Kowalski, Morgan, and Limber, 2012). The current study examined the phenomenon of cyberbullying among children and youth in Israel. The purpose of was to examine the correlation between bully and victim, and emotional-social aspects--social support, sense of loneliness and sense of self-efficacy--that constitute risk factors and protective factors. The study involved 1,094 elementary, middle school and high school students, who completed four questionnaires that addressed cyber-bullying and the social and emotional aspects: Social support, loneliness, self-efficacy and personal well-being. It was found that the less social support the students have, the lower their sense of self-efficacy; the lonelier they feel and the more they experience a lower sense of well-being, the greater the likelihood that they will participate in cyberbullying, mainly by sending offensive pictures or videos.

Changes among Israeli youth movements: a structural analysis based on Kahane’s code of informality

Multi-dimensional data analysis tools are applied to Reuven Kahane’s data on the informality of youth organizations, yielding a graphic portrayal of Kahane’s code of informality. This structure helps address questions of the whether the eight structural components exhaustively cover the field without redundancy. Further, the structure is used to examine changes in Israeli youth movements over two time periods (1925–1960 and 1960–1990). It is found that social aspects of the group have become more important, while ideology (especially socialist ideology) is less emphasized. Directions for continued research among youth movements since 1990 are explored.

Gratitude and PTSD symptoms among Israeli youth exposed to missile attacks: examining the mediation of positive and negative affect and life satisfaction

Based on a sample of Israeli adolescents living in a city which was under missile attack 2½ months prior to this study, we examined the possible affective and cognitive mechanisms through which gratitude may serve as a protective factor against PTSD symptoms. Specifically, we focused on how this process might be mediated by positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction. These are widely understood as the emotional and cognitive components of subjective well-being and have each been significantly associated with gratitude and with pathology in the literature. Using pathway analysis, our findings revealed that life satisfaction and negative affect, but not positive affect, mediated the relationship between gratitude and PTSD symptoms. Our study suggests that gratitude may serve as a protective factor primarily through cognitive appraisal processes tied to greater appreciation of life in a way that distinguishes it from other positive emotions.

The (late?) modern family: The family's significance for adolescents in Germany and Israel

This study presents German and Israeli youth's heroes and role models. Two hundred twenty-six students from 22 high schools took part in small group interviews. Despite differences in the normative place of the family in the two cultures, the comparison reveals significant similarities between their views and what attributes the subjects assign to their families. Three main models of family members as hero arise from the data: The Self-made Person; sacrifice and pro-social action; and contending with everyday reality. The results point to a) the fading of traditional heroes from the imagination of youth in post-industrial societies; b) the substantive place the family holds in young people's lives. I suggest that the rise of uncertainty and risk in the current socio-historical constellation, contributes to adolescents' choice of figures from their immediate environments that embody safety and a moral framework.

Stuck in circulation: children, ‘waithood’ and the conflict narratives of Israelis and Palestinians

Recent scholarship on the circulation of children and on the plight of youth trapped in transition in Africa and the Middle East recognizes – from two separate vantage points – how the circulation of children extends from and then reproduces violence. Displacement (forced and voluntary) and stuckness (the inability to transition from childhood to adulthood due to exclusionary economic and political structures) are two related outcomes for young people in contexts of armed conflict and structural violence. Drawing on insights from these two research streams, this paper examines how Israeli and Palestinian youth perceive and represent themselves in relation to the different contested spaces that they occupy. Surface plays of power and territoriality are disrupted as well as reinforced by specific mobilizations of children and youth (as people), and by the circulation of ideas about children and childhood.

Smoking initiation among Israeli adolescents: A 24-year time-to-event analysis

IntroductionPreventing smoking initiation will protect future generations from smoking-attributable death and disease. This study examines the correlates and patterns of initiation among Israeli youth using time-to-event analysis and other methods. MethodsTwenty-four consecutive representative samples (1986–2009) of new military recruits (N=50,254) were analyzed. Cox regression and Kaplan–Meier analysis were used to identify factors associated with smoking initiation, and logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with smoking status. ResultsThe most hazardous age for smoking initiation was seventeen, subsequent to the mean age of smoking initiation (males: 15.7, females: 16.0). Age of initiation and age of greatest hazard for initiation declined among recruits between the years 1986 and 2009. Earlier smoking initiation among boys and girls was significantly associated with low education levels (<12years) (males: HR=2.98, CI: [2.79, 3.18]; females: HR=3.35, CI: [2.96, 3.80]), low paternal education levels, Russian birthplace, and religion. Earlier initiation in boys was associated with high fitness levels and low/medium socio-economic status. Earlier initiation in girls was associated with being Western-born and ever-use of contraception. ConclusionsSmoking initiation among Israeli youth recruited to the armed forces is associated with individual and family characteristics, particularly low education levels. Time-to-event analysis complements traditional means of understanding smoking initiation by identifying ages at which initiation hazard is high.

Meaning in Life and Suicidal Tendency Among Immigrant (Ethiopian) Youth and Native-Born Israeli Youth.

The impact of meaning in life, or lack thereof, on suicidal tendencies among populations at greater risk-youth born to immigrants from developing countries, in this case Ethiopia-in comparison to native-born Israeli youth was examined among 277 adolescents-162 of Israeli origin and 115 of Ethiopian origin-aged 15-18. (1) Overall significant negative correlation between meaning in life and suicidal tendencies was found; (2) no difference was found in meaning in life between immigrant and native-born youth; (3) higher suicidal tendency, anxiety and depression were found among immigrants, with boys displaying more anxiety than girls. No difference in depression was detected between Ethiopian boys and girls. Meaning in life is crucial to minimizing suicidal tendencies among youth, native-born and immigrant alike. Establishment of prevention, intervention and therapy plans in the age range crucial for suicide. Such programs should be based upon finding meaning in life.

The Key to Resilience: A Peer Based Youth Leader Training and Support Program

The Key to Resilience, a pilot study conducted with Israeli youth leaders (N = 78), focused on resilience building in the wake of trauma. The program was designed to reach youth who do not access existing mental health services, and used peer-based intervention as a way to expand mental health resources for this population. Evaluation of workshop participants was measured through pre- and post- questionnaires, which assessed exposure to traumatic events, flexibility, perceived social support, perceived stress, and workshop impact. Significant changes were found in both measures of flexibility and social support, indicating positive changes in the direction of growing resilience. Training youth leaders in resilience building can serve to expand mental health resources for youth in post- and peri-traumatic environments.

My Promised Land

My Promised Land

Children in Educational Residential Care: A Cohort Study of Israeli Youth

This article reports preliminary findings from a national cohort study in Israel on the educational outcomes of 82,342 Jewish citizens born in 1981. We compare the educational outcomes of 2002 alumni of youth villages and their peers in the general population with respect to differences among cultural subgroups. The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics generated the database by combining different official data files based on a personal identification number that each Israeli citizen receives. This database covers the entire cohort and includes information on their background and educational status. The findings indicate that the educational status of alumni of youth villages at the age of 27 is less positive compared to that of their peers in the general population. Cultural differences are discussed with respect to the role of youth villages as a means for upward mobility of disadvantaged youth, and implications for policy and future research are suggested.

Translating a national grand narrative into a personal biographies

This article examines the connection between grand narratives and the creative ways that individuals translate them into personal biographies through a case study of a boarding school for gifted disadvantaged youth in Israel. To test the state’s grand narrative, I performed a content analysis of minutes of governmental protocols as well as organizational reports at the time the boarding school was established. The state grand narrative stresses the rescue of Jews from Arab countries by the leaders of the state and the linear Oriental-to-Occidental cultural development that these Jews must undergo in order to survive in modern life. To examine the question of how the grand narrative is translated into personal biographies, sixty graduates of the boarding school and thirty-two siblings who did not attend the boarding school were interviewed. The findings demonstrate that the graduates of the boarding school translated the grand narrative into a special narrative configuration known as the alternative biography, a concept that addresses the lifeworlds that, in the subjects’ judgment, might have characterized their lives under different circumstances. Further, the structure of this narrative points to one explicit alternative biography, that of the sibling who did not attend the boarding school. The disscusion chapter explores the phenomenological meanings of this singular narrative configuration.

Identical, Fraternal, or Separated at Birth: A Case Study of Educator Teams Within American-Israeli School Twinning

School-to-school collaboration has emerged as a key paradigm for fostering personal and institutional connections between Israeli and Diaspora youth, educators, and schools. Using the findings of a multi-year case study of a high school level twinning initiative, this article describes the challenges to this form of transnational collaboration and takes the first steps to articulating a theory of intervention of Israeli-Diaspora school twinning at the organizational level. The article suggests two processes, collaborative capacity and cultural competence, critical to development of positive and productive relationships in school partnerships. Institutional twinning is suggested as the goal of these interventions at the organizational level.

Exploring the reproduction of conflict through narrative: Israeli youth motivated to participate in a coexistence program.

Contemporary Israeli youth are socialized in the context of intractable nationalist conflict with Palestinians, characterized by a “master” historical narrative of Jewish Israeli identity that exacerbates the conflict. This exploratory study examines the relation between this master narrative and the personal narratives of youth motivated to participate in a coexistence program. Narratives of youth suggest points of both convergence and divergence with the master narrative in their form, thematic content, and ideological settings. Like the larger story of Jewish Israeli identity, the stories of youth assumed a redemptive form and integrated themes of existential insecurity, historical persecution, exceptionalism, and delegitimization of Palestinian identity. Divergence with the master narrative suggested the significance of local communities and the growing pluralism of Israeli society, as well as policy shifts in Israel regarding the legitimacy of Palestinian statehood. Despite motivation to participate ...

The TJ Mainstreaming Project: An Evaluation of the Israeli Youth Act

Recently, there has been a growing interest in evaluating the legal landscape of various jurisdictions to see whether Therapeutic Jurisprudence (TJ) and related practices and techniques can be mainstreamed within the courts. This paper takes part in the mainstreaming project by evaluating youth justice legislation in Israel to see whether it is TJ friendly and can allow for it to be mainstreamed. An analysis of the Youth Act uncovers that the legal landscape of youth justice in Israel is, by-and-large, TJ friendly and can thus be mainstreamed. However, there are some possible obstacles seen as unfriendly to TJ and may undermine the court’s ability to enhance therapeutic consequences. Possible solutions are also offered.

The Impact of Socio-environmental Projects of Jewish and Bedouin Youth in Israel on Students’ Local Knowledge and Views of Each Other

This study is part of a first study of collaborative socio-environmental projects that engage Jewish and Arab students in Israel in learning about their local environment and about each other through outdoor learning and environmental action. We used ideas of social learning and environmental citizenship to frame our research. We investigated students' knowledge regarding their local environment and their knowledge of each other's community. We also studied the participants’ views regarding their project-partners'environmental knowledge, awareness and behaviour in comparison to their own. Initially, differences were found regarding various aspects of the students' socio-environmental knowledge and in students' views of their counterparts' environmentalism. At the end of the projects, students showed better understanding of local socio-environmental issues and demonstrated changes in their original views towards the environmental awareness and behaviour of their counterparts. These findings suggest that projects which involve students from segregated communities not only promote environmental awareness but contribute to a reduction in mutual prejudices. We suggest that the differences we found are not related to ethnicity, but rather to students' socioeconomic status and experience in environmental education programmes.