RESILIENCE AND WAR-RELATED ANXIETY: EXPLORING ETHNIC DIFFERENCES

Since the October 7 th , 2023, events, Israel has been in a continuous war.The aim of the study was to look at the role of ethnicity and resilience as predictive factors of anxiety among Jews and Arabs, citizens of Israel, post October 7 th events.The current study utilized a cohort, followed over 8 months in two time points.Before the October 2023 events (July 2023, referred to as T1), 512 participants filled in an online questionnaire of demographic details, resilience and anxiety.Of the 512 participants, 250 (126 females; 156 Jewish; M age= 42.12 (SD = 10.58))filled post attack questionnaires (March 2024 referred to as T2).The post attack questionnaires included: Demographic information, resilience, and anxiety scales.Results showed that resilience at baseline was negatively associated with anxiety and that higher levels of anxiety are attributed to Arabs.Furthermore, the interaction term was significant as well, meaning that ethnicity moderated the relationship between resilience and anxiety.Conditional effect analyses indicated that resilience was negatively related to anxiety among Arabs only but not for Jews.These findings suggest different interactions of resilience with war related anxiety, between and within the two ethnicities.The empirical evidence yields critical implications for developing and implementing culturally responsive mental health interventions that honor diverse ethnic perspectives and lived experiences.