title: Preschool Israeli Children Exposed to Rocket Attacks: Assessment, Risk, and Resilience.
abstract: Preschool children are among the most vulnerable populations to adversity. This study described the effects of 4 weeks of daily exposure to rocket attacks on children living on Israel's southern border. Participants enrolled in this study were 122 preschool children (50% boys) between the ages 3 and 6 years from 10 kindergartens. We assessed mothers' report of children's symptoms according to the DSM-IV and alternative criteria resembling the DSM-5 criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), general adaptation, traumatic exposure, and stressful life events 3 months after the war. The prevalence of PTSD was lower when the diagnosis was derived from the DSM-IV (4%) than from the DSM-5 criteria (14%). Mothers of children with 4 or more stressful life events reported more functional impairment in social, occupational, and other important areas of functioning compared to children with 0 or 1 stressful life event. Children with more severe exposure showed more severe symptoms and mothers had more concerns about the child's functioning (η(p)(2) = .09-.25). Stressful life events and exposure to traumatic experiences accounted for 32% of the variance in PTSD and 19% of the variance in the adaptation scale. Results were explored in terms of risk and resilience factors.
authors.affiliation: Donald J. Cohen & Irving B. Harris Resilience Center, Israel.|School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, Israel.
authors.forename: Leo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wolmer
authors.affiliation: Donald J. Cohen & Irving B. Harris Resilience Center, Israel.|School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, Israel.|Tel Aviv-Brull Community Mental Health Center, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hamiel
authors.affiliation: Donald J. Cohen & Irving B. Harris Resilience Center, Israel.
authors.forename: Tali
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Versano-Eisman
authors.affiliation: School of Psychological Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Israel.
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Slone
authors.affiliation: Donald J. Cohen & Irving B. Harris Resilience Center, Israel.
authors.forename: Nitzan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Margalit
authors.affiliation: Donald J. Cohen & Irving B. Harris Resilience Center, Israel.|Tel Aviv-Brull Community Mental Health Center, Tel-Aviv, Israel.|Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Israel.|Child Study Center, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
authors.forename: Nathaniel
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Laor
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D053834:Explosive Agents; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D055500:Resilience, Psychological; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D023481:Terrorism / Q000523:psychology*
chemical_list: D053834:Explosive Agents