Children's psychological reactions to wartime stress

Studied the psychological reactions of 521 children in Israeli settlements subjected to frequent artillery shellings in the period following the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, and compared their reactions with those of 287 children never subjected to shelling. The shelled children exhibited more locale patriotism, more covert aggression, and more appreciation for the personality trait of courage than did the nonshelled controls. No differences between the shelled and the nonshelled groups emerged with respect to attitudes toward the war, desire for peace, and overt aggressiveness toward the enemy. Findings are interpreted as reflecting an active process of coping with stress in children of the shelled settlements. Specific modes of coping seemed to be partly affected by the prevailing social norms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).