Correlates of War-Induced Stress Responses among Late Middle-Aged and Elderly Israelis

Abstract

Over a period of six weeks in the winter of 1991, Israel was exposed to hostile enemy actions unlike any others in its history. In the Gulf War, civilians were front-line targets for Scud missiles which fell in the heart of the country's most heavily populated areas. One hundred and sixty-four late middle-aged and elderly Israelis were interviewed with respect to their emotional and behavioral reactions. Subjective health, gender, and attribution of meaning were the most significant variables, explaining most of the variance in the two measures of response. Satisfaction with informal network effectiveness was a relatively strong predictor of change in the affective distress variable. Degree of religious commitment and chronological age were weak but significant predictors of affective distress and social interaction distress respectively. Location of residence in relation to the missile impact zone was of no significance in explaining variance in the dependent measures. The findings are discussed in light of the uniquely subjective, interpretive context of stress phenomena, and the need to identify those variables that explain individual differences among older adults in their responses to stress.