Teens pay high psychiatric toll when raised in conditions of political conflict [MedicalXpress.com]

[Photo: Human Rights Watch]

The latest flare-up in the Middle East catches children in the midst of their long-anticipated summer break. The wail of sirens replaces the jingle of ice cream trucks, and boys and girls dash to a bomb shelter instead of playing tag at the park. Young people are enduring a summer of violence, devastation, panic, and isolation. What are the long-term effects of these conditions?

A new study published in the Journal of Traumatic Stress by Prof. Michelle Slone of Tel Aviv University's School of Psychological Sciences and Dr. Anat Shoshani of the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya finds that Israeli youths exposed to protracted conflict suffer far higher levels of anxiety, phobia, fear, depression, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, and paranoia than their counterparts in the U.S. The largest cross-sectional empirical study of its kind, the research assessed youths exposed to terrorism, missile attacks, war, forced residential relocations, and military operations, as well as relative quiet over an unprecedented period of 14 years.

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-07-teens-high-psychiatric-toll-conditions.html

Abstract in Journal of Traumatic Stress: Psychiatric Effects of Protracted Conflict and Political Life Events Exposure among Adolescents in Israel: 1998–2011