This article documents a study conducted among 291 Arab women from Israel using a self-administered questionnaire that examined their attitudes toward varying patterns of coping with wife abuse. The findings revealed that the more the participants were characterized by negative and traditional perceptions of women, stereotyped attitudes toward gender roles, high levels of religiosity, and strong orientations toward familism, the greater their tendency to expect battered wives to change their behavior toward their husbands, assume responsibility for their husbands' violent behavior, and resist seeking help from formal agencies or breaking up the family unit. This article discusses the relevance of the sociocultural and sociopolitical context of Arab society to women's attitudes toward various patterns of coping with wife abuse. It also discusses the implications of these results for future studies and for culturally sensitive intervention in cases of wife abuse.

The beliefs of 356 Jordanian women about wife-beating were investigated, using a self-administered questionnaire. The participants showed a strong tendency to justify wife-beating, to believe that women benefit from violence against them, and to blame women for their beating. Furthermore, the participants expressed clear opposition to formal assistance for battered women from governmental agencies. In this vein, they considered wife abuse a personal problem that should be treated within the family. The results also revealed that while the women showed a weak tendency to blame violent husbands for wife abuse, the prevailing belief was that violent men should not be punished for their behavior. The results are analyzed in light of the patriarchal ideology that typifies Arab culture and predominates in Jordanian society. Finally, the article discusses the implications of the results for future research, prevention, and establishment of appropriate services for combating wife abuse in Jordanian society.

This article presents findings on the impact of wife abuse on marital relations, as revealed by the Second Palestinian National Survey on Violence Against Women. The study was conducted with a systematic random sample of 1,334 Palestinian women from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The results revealed that compared with their nonabused counterparts, abused wives expressed higher levels of negative patterns of communication with husbands and lower levels of commitment to marriage, marital satisfaction, affection, harmony, and happiness. In addition, the results indicated that substantial amounts of the variance in all six dimensions of marital relations examined are significantly explained by being physically abused, psychologically abused, sexually abused, and/or economically abused, over and above the variance explained by women's sociodemographic characteristics. Recommendations for further research on this topic in Palestinian society are presented.

The article deals with the incidence of adolescent maltreatment by parents and siblings and some of its psychological effects, as revealed by a cross-sectional survey conducted among a sample of 1,640 Arab adolescents in Israel. The results revealed that a high percentage of adolescents are psychologically and physically maltreated annually. Furthermore, regression and multiple regression analyses reveal that significant amounts of the variance in adolescents' feelings of hopelessness, psychological adjustment problems, and low self-esteem can be attributed to their maltreatment by parents and siblings. These levels of variance go beyond the amounts of variance in these psychological states that can be explained by the sociodemographic characteristics of the adolescents, their parents, and their families. The implications of these results for future research are discussed. The relevance of sociocultural and sociopolitical contexts of Arab society to child and adolescent maltreatment is also illuminated.

Over the past three decades, extensive research has examined why battered women stay with their abusers. However, very few studies have focused on the subjective experiences of formerly battered women in the process of deciding to divorce their abusive husbands and in their attempt to carry out their decision. Semi-structured, open-ended, in-depth interviews were conducted with 15 formerly battered divorced women, focusing primarily on the women's interpretations of the two above-mentioned aspects of the divorce process. The results indicate that the women contextualize the experiences related to their decision to divorce and to their efforts to carry out that decision in terms of relevant ecological factors. Specifically, the women emphasized intrapersonal, interpersonal, structural-organizational, and sociocultural factors related to the divorce process. The limitations of the study and implications of the results are also discussed.

Objectives: The study had two aims. First, it sought to examine the incidence of interparental psychological aggression and physical violence witnessed by Arab adolescents. Second, it sought to assess the implications of such exposure on adolescents' feelings of hopelessness, psychological adjustment problems, and self-esteem. Method: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among a sample of 1640 Arab adolescents from Israel. Different forms of the Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS) were utilized to measure the extent of interparental psychological aggression and physical violence witnessed by adolescents. The Hopelessness Scale for Children (HSC), the Psychological Adjustment Scale (PAS), and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE) were used to measure the above-mentioned psychological states. Results: The results indicate that Arab adolescents witness high rates of psychological aggression and physical violence between their parents. Furthermore, regression and multiple regression analyses revealed that significant amounts of the variance in adolescents' hopelessness, psychological adjustment problems, and low self-esteem are explained by witnessing different patterns of interparental psychological aggression and physical violence, beyond the amounts of variance in these criterion variables that can be attributed to some sociodemographic characteristics of the adolescents, their parents, and families. Conclusions: The results provided strong support for the hypothesis that witnessing interparental aggression and violence has a strong detrimental impact on adolescents' psychological states. Furthermore, the results emphasize the need for further research into the effects of witnessing other patterns of psychological aggression and physical violence in adolescents' nuclear and extended families. It would also be worthwhile to investigate the risk factors that predispose violence in the family and the consequences of those factors.

Objectives: The study aimed to achieve the following two objectives: First, it sought to examine the rates of sexual abuse in Palestinian society at three ages (12 years or less, 12-16 years, and 16+3 years) by three perpetrators (a family member, a relative, and a stranger). Second, the study sought to assess some psychological implications of sexual victimization. Method: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 652 Palestinian undergraduate students from the Palestinian Authority. A revised version of Finkelhor's scale was utilized to measure sexual abuse, and a revised and culturally adjusted version of Derogatis and Melisaratos' Brief Symptoms Inventory was used to measure nine psychological symptoms. Results: The rates of sexual abuse among Palestinian students fall within the range of the problem in many other societies. Similar rates of abuse were found among female and male students. Moreover, sexually abused participants expressed significantly higher levels of psychoticism, hostility, anxiety, somatization, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, depression, obsessive-compulsiveness, and psychological distress compared with their nonabused counterparts. Sexual abuse by different perpetrators at different ages significantly explained between 20.7% and 35.8% of the variance in these psychological symptoms. Conclusions: The results provide strong support for the argument that sexual abuse exists in Palestinian society, as well as for the hypothesis that sexual abuse has a strong psychological impact on victims. Furthermore, the results highlight the need for further research into different aspects and dimensions of the problem in Arab societies.

Child maltreatment has become a major concern in countries throughout the world. This article presents a study conducted among 164 Arab social workers in Israel. The study asked the following questions: How do Arab social workers define child maltreatment? What signs are used to identify potential cases? What are the risk factors for child maltreatment as perceived by the social workers? How do social workers perceive their role in reporting maltreatment? The results reveal that the respondents' definitions of maltreatment focus more on abuse than on neglect.

The study presented in this paper focuses on the experience of formerly battered women with divorce. Using an integrative, ecologically-based approach, semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 15 divorced Israeli women who had experienced battering by their ex-husbands. The results portray the main themes presented by the women in relation to their lives after the divorce. Personal, interpersonal, organizational and sociocultural aspects are discussed. The results focus on the centrality of factors on all ecological levels. The women expressed satisfaction and, generally, a sense of well-being, increased closeness with the family-of-origin, support from friends and relatives and improvement in parental capabilities. In their struggle, these women require extensive assistance from various mental health and human service organizations, as well as financial and legal assistance. Cultural factors and social values also play a role in their adjustment.

The article focuses on the incidence of different patterns of wife abuse and battering and on some of their mental health consequences. Data are based on findings from the Second Palestinian National Survey conducted among a systematic random sample of 1,334 Palestinian women from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The results reveal that 87.2%, 54%, 40%, and 44% of the Palestinian women indicated they had experienced one or more acts of psychological abuse, physical violence, sexual abuse, and economic abuse, respectively, at least once by their husbands during the 12 months preceding the survey. Also, results indicated that significant amounts of the variances in women's low self-esteem, depression, and anxiety are significantly explained by their experiences with abuse, over and above the explained variances in these psychological consequences by women's sociodemographic characteristics. The study's limitations are discussed, and recommendations for further research and program development in Palestinian society presented.

Objectives: To examine the incidence and sociodemographic correlates of witnessing and experiencing different patterns of abuse and violence in the family of origin among Arab adolescents from Israel. Method: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among a sample of 1,640 Arab secondary school students in Israel. Results: About 17% of the participants had witnessed their fathers threatening to hit or throw something at their mothers, and 18% had witnessed their fathers attacking, grabbing, or shoving their mothers at least once during the 12 months preceding the survey. Regarding exposure to mother-to-father violence, the rates for the same acts were 4% and 3%, respectively. In addition, 39%, 40%, and 42% of the participants indicated that their fathers, mothers, and siblings, respectively, had yelled at them and/or done something to insult them at least once during the same period. Furthermore, 17%, 15%, and 20% of the participants revealed that their fathers, mothers, and siblings, respectively, had attacked them continuously for several minutes with a stick, club, or other harmful object at least once during the 12 months preceding the survey. Conclusions: The results revealed evidence of psychological and physical violence against Arab adolescents of different ages, gender, places of residence, or religions. In addition, evidence was found of violence between parents of different ages, levels of education, levels of income, religious affiliation, occupation, and family size. These results emphasize the importance of exploring violence in the Arab family from an integrative, ecological perspective. Copyright (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc.

Over the past 3 decades, wife abuse and battering has become a major concern throughout the world. However, there is a serious dearth of empirical knowledge about different dimensions of the problem in the Arab world. This article documents the incidence of different patterns of abuse and battering as revealed in two national surveys conducted among Palestinian women from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Systematic random samples of 2,410 women and 1,334 women participated in the first and second surveys, respectively. The annual incidence of psychological, sexual, and economic abuse as well as physical violence are presented, and some of their sociodemographic correlates are discussed in relation to each of the two surveys. The limitations of the two surveys and implications of their results for future research and theory development are also discussed.

The present study focused on 1,111 engaged Arab women in Israel, examining the different patterns of abuse and battering they experienced by their fiancés. The results revealed that between 8% and 48% of the respondents had experienced psychological aggression by their partners and between 1% to 10% had experienced physical aggression. Moreover, between 5% and 11% of the respondents had experienced acts of sexual abuse at least once during the engagement period. In addition, some mental health consequences of these experiences were examined. Analysis of variance revealed that, when negotiation tactics were not used to resolve conflicts and when respondents had experienced different patterns of abuse and battering by their fiancés, they also expressed relatively low levels of self-esteem and relatively high levels of depression, anxiety, and stress. Regression and multiple regression analyses revealed that the main predictors of the study explained larger amounts of the variance in mental health than did some of the background variables. Finally, the article discusses the limitations of the study and implications for future research, as well as recommendations for prevention and intervention activities.

Over the past three decades, the topics of job satisfaction and burnout have become a major focus of interest in research and professional training in the field of social work. However, there is a serious lack of studies focusing on these issues in the context of Arab social workers in Israel. This paper presents the results obtained from a subsample of Arab participants in a national study of Israeli social workers. It focuses on the correlations between several career outcomes and organizational conditions such as role characteristics, work conditions, job mastery, and power. Challenge at work and job mastery were found to be the most significant and consistent predictors of the outcome results. The implications of the results are also discussed.

Despite increasing public, professional, and scientific interest in the problem of wife abuse and battering, little has been written about the importance of sociocultural sensitivity in intervention with abused and battered women in Arab society. In this article, I describe central family values in that society and discuss their relevance to wife abuse and battering. Specifically, the discussion focuses on values such as mutual family support and interdependence, family reputation, women's inferiority and male supremacy, and family cohesion and the relevance of those values to wife abuse and battering. In addition, I present Arab women's perspectives on this problem, as revealed in their responses to open-ended questions that were part of larger studies conducted by me. In this regard, five dimensions of their perspectives are considered: (1) Women's definitions of violence against women; (2) their awareness of the problem; (3) their justification or condemnation of violence against women; (4) their awareness of the risk encountered by battered women; and (5) their approach toward coping with the problem. The results are discussed from the perspective of the sociocultural context of Arab society. The article concludes with recommendations for socioculturally sensitive intervention with battered women in this society.

Despite the considerable advancement of empirical knowledge in the area of mental health and mental illness, there is a serious lack of research on the topic from the perspective of Arab societies. This study examines whether traditional Arab societies such as Arab-Islamic society tend to reject mentally ill people, where willingness to employ a mentally ill person was chosen as a specific manifestation of such rejection. The research sample consisted of 262 potential employers in East Jerusalem, all of whom were Muslim men. On the whole, the findings support the research hypotheses, that as traditionalism increases there is a concomitant rise in the tendency to view mental illness as the result of an inadequate relationship with God, as a divine punishment and as an expression of divine will (fatalism). It was also found that these three tendencies exacerbate negative attitudes towards and rejection of the mentally ill, which in turn reduces the extent to which potential employers are willing to hire mentally ill people. However, the results reveal that rejection of the mentally ill is an inherent aspect of attitudes towards them, and not necessarily connected with traditionalism. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of these findings for the reintegration of the mentally ill into Arab society.

Most Arab students of social work in Israel are supervised by Jewish supervisors during their field work practicum. However, there is a serious dearth of empirical research on this encounter between people from different ethnic and national backgrounds. The paper presents results from two studies conducted among Jewish supervisors and Arab supervisees. Supervisors' and supervisees' perceptions were studied and documented along five dimensions: (1) Difficulties experienced specifically by Arab students; (2) the relationship between Jewish supervisors and Arab supervisees; (3) difficulties related to gender and nationality; (4) strategies for coping with difficulties between Arab supervisees and their Jewish supervisors; and (5) recommended modifications in the social work curriculum and supervision process. Gaps between the perceptions of Jewish supervisors and Arab supervisees are discussed, and relevant conclusions are presented.