Family Involvement and Holocaust Salience among Offspring and Grandchildren of Holocaust Survivors

The present research focuses on family involvement reported by offspring and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors (OHS and GHS, respectively). Study 1 included a convenience sample of 75 participants, divided into 2 groups (36 OHS and 39 comparisons). Study 2 included a convenience sample of 92 dyads of OHS and GHS. Both samples completed the Family Involvement Questionnaire and the Holocaust Salience Scale. In line with the hypotheses, Study 1 found that, relative to comparisons, OHS presented greater familial involvement. Only OHS with strong family involvement showed higher Holocaust salience than comparisons. Study 2 showed higher familial involvement among OHS as compared to GHS, and significant parent-child correlations. The results show that family involvement is related to intergenerational transmission of the trauma, especially among OHS. Yet, among OHS and GHS, parents’ and children’s family involvement were associated. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Poverty,Government Policy and Public Opinion in Britain and Israel: A Comparative Analysis

What are the effects of public opinion on social welfare policies? To what extent is increased financial strain associated with stronger support for anti‐poverty policies? This article tests welfare state theory by comparing poverty, government policy and public opinion on poverty in the UK and Israel, based on rich and detailed comparable survey data on the conditions of the poor in both countries. The results show that, despite similar levels of income poverty and inequality, the poor have a considerably lower standard of living in Israel than the UK. There is considerably greater public support for the poor in Israel but limited government action to end poverty, whereas in the UK there is more limited public support for the poor but significant government action on poverty and exclusion. In both countries there appears to be only a limited connection between social solidarity with the poor and the political elite's rhetoric and action.     

A preliminary study of group intervention along with basic canine training among traumatized teenagers: A 3-month longitudinal study

The current study aimed to reduce the psychological distress of teenage girls who were exposed to traumatic event (physical or sexual abused), through using dogs-assisted therapy. Two sets of designs conducted: 1) longitudinal design which aims to answer the question: does dog assisted therapy will reduce psychological distress (namely depressive symptoms, post-traumatic symptoms), improve self confidence and subjective well being among these teenage girls? 2) Cross-sectional design that aims to compare the treatment group (dogs-assisted therapy) with comparison group at baseline and after the last session. The groups (intervention vs. matching) were compared on socio-demographic variables (only for time 1), subjective well-being, coping with stressful life events, PTSD symptoms, and depressive symptoms at base line (time 1) and at the end of the intervention (time 2). Findings from the longitudinal perspective have shown a rapid decline at the level of PTSD symptoms in the intervention group, along with significant reduction in the proportion of participants with elevated risk for PTSD. The main significant findings from the cross-sectional design were: lower level of subjective well-being, higher level of PTSD symptoms and depressive symptoms among the intervention group compared to the matching group at base line. However, these differences became non-significant at the end of the intervention. Various explanations for these findings are discussed.     

Minimum Income Standards in Israel: A Recent History in Economic and Humanistic Discourses

Recent years have seen a growing interest in the creation of Minimum Income Standards (MIS). The impetus for this is the belief that governments that do not employ MIS to set income support can ultimately be persuaded to do so. Even as scholars recognize the many hurdles in the way of an MIS's acceptance, they nonetheless hope, and seem to expect, that the hurdles can be overcome and the political will be created to adopt empirical MIS that would allow a decent standard of living. This article, a case study analyzing the setting of income support levels in Israel over more than seven decades, questions this assumption. The analyses, anchored in Veit‐Wilson's notion of discourses, show that the absence of governmental MIS in Israel has not been incidental, but the outcome of repeated conscious decisions, anchored in the primacy of the asocial economistic discourse. This discourse, it shows, served as a strong disincentive to the adoption of governmental MIS, which would have required the government to justify its choice to set income support below that which was needed for a minimum standard of living.     

An Empirical Analysis of the Interrelationship between Components of the Social Quality Theoretical Construct

Social quality has been presented as a theory that can explain economic and social progress of the daily lives of a population. The components of social quality include: socio-economic security, social inclusion, social cohesion and social empowerment. The social quality perspective views people as interacting within collective identities that provide the contexts of self-realisation. The paper tests the social quality theory by focusing on the relationship between social inclusion and social cohesion, the notion of social relations, to socio-economic security using the context of the family as a facilitator of self-realisation. Using data from the Israel Social Survey 2003, six indicators of socio-economic security were analysed. There was a small but positive and significant relationship between social inclusion and socio-economic security. We found no relationship between socio-economic security and social cohesion. These findings tend to undermine those aspects of social quality theory which posit close connections between these elements on a conceptual level.