title: Elderly people coping with the aftermath of war:  resilience versus vulnerability.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The present study compares coping of elderly people and two younger groups 1 year after a war. Coping was determined by stress symptoms and posttraumatic recovery and two levels of resiliency.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-six streets (covering most of the city streets) were sampled randomly from the map of Kiryat Shemona (a town next to the Lebanese border) about a year after the end of the Second Lebanon War.
  
  
  METHODS
  The sample constituted 870 adult residents of the town. Participants were divided into three age groups: elderly (age 65 years and older, N = 108), adults (age 46-64 years, N = 252) and young adults (age 20-45 years, N = 462).
  
  
  METHODS
  1) Stress symptoms measured by short version of Brief Symptom Inventory; 2) Individual resilience measured by Sense of Coherence Inventory; 3) Posttraumatic Recovery Inventory (PTR); and 4) Public Resilience Scale (included a scale for community and national resilience).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results indicated 1) The elderly group reported significantly higher levels of stress symptoms and lower levels of PTR; 2) Females in the three age groups reported higher levels of stress symptoms and lower levels of PTR and individual resilience than males; 3) Individual and public resilience negatively predicted stress symptoms and positively predicted posttraumatic recovery across three age groups; and 4) Public resilience has a differential effect on stress symptoms in each of the three age groups but not on PTR.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results question the division of older people into a vulnerable or inoculated group, indicating that the participants responded concurrently in a more vulnerable and a more resilient manner. Older people were characterized by higher levels of postwar stress symptoms, as well as a higher sense of coherence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Tel Hai College, Upper Galilee, Israel. shaul@shamir.org.il
authors.forename: Shaul
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kimhi
authors.forename: Shira
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hantman
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goroshit
authors.forename: Yohanan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Eshel
authors.forename: Leehu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zysberg
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007861:Lebanon; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055500:Resilience, Psychological; D060685:Sense of Coherence; D012737:Sex Factors; D040921:Stress Disorders, Traumatic / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D014857:Warfare