Citation

Eshel Y, Kimhi S, Lahad M, Leykin D. Am. J. Geriatr. Psychiatry 2016; 24(8): 644-647.

Affiliation

Department of Energency Medicine, Recanati School for Community Health Professions, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jagp.2016.03.002

PMID

27160987

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The resilience of older and younger Israelis was investigated. DESIGN AND SETTING: A representative sample of the Jewish population in Israel (N = 1,022) was used. PARTICIPANTS: The participants were three adult age-groups (18-35, 36-64, and 65+ years). Half of them were women, and they evenly represented left-wing and right-wing political attitudes. MEASUREMENTS: Resilience was measured by the ratio of strength and vulnerability of the individual, the community, and the nation.

RESULTS: Older participants did not differ from younger people in sense of danger; reported lower level of distress symptoms; and showed higher individual, community, and national resilience scores based on strength to vulnerability ratio, compared with younger individuals.

CONCLUSIONS: These data support the contention that older Israelis are more resilient than younger cohorts. Their long direct or indirect experience with wars and terror attacks has not decreased their resilience, and has perhaps even strengthened it.

Copyright © 2016 American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Language: en