Posttraumatic stress disorder and resilience among Palestinian adolescents in the Gaza Strip

الملخص EN

Objective: The current study investigated posttraumatic stress disorder and resilience among adolescents in the Gaza Strip after the 52-day war in 2014.

Method: N=408 adolescents, aged between 13 and 18 years, were recruited from the five governorates of the Gaza Strip with the help of local community-based organizations.

Four self-report questionnaires were completed, including a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Gaza Traumatic Events Checklist, the PTSD Scale-DSM-IV, and Child and Youth Resilience Measure.

Results: The most frequently reported traumatic experience was seeing mutilated bodies on television.

Nearly half of the participants had experienced at least 10 traumatic events and 19.1% showed full criteria of PTSD.

Getting an education was recorded as the most influential factor in the development of resilience.

The total number of experienced traumatic events was positively correlated with PTSD and negatively correlated with resilience.

PTSD was negatively correlated with resilience factors.

Conclusion: Adolescents living in armed conflict zones are at risk of experiencing traumatic events, which can lead to PTSD.

Resilience plays a significant role in reducing the negative effect of trauma and PTSD.

Further investigation, particularly on resilience factors, is required.