Living in the shadow of occupation: Life satisfaction and positive emotion asprotective factors in a group of Palestinian school children

Guido Veronese , Marco Castiglioni, Gianpiero Barola, Mahmud Said. “Living in the shadow of occupation: Life satisfaction and positive emotion asprotective factors in a group of Palestinian school children

Keywords:

Positive emotionsLife satisfactionPalestinian childrenAdjustmentWar

Startingfromperspectivesonfunctioningandwellbeing,theaimofthepresentstudywastoinvestigatepositiveandnegativeaffect,self-perceivedlifesatisfactionandhappinessinagroupof74Palestinianchildrenexposedtopolitical violence. We hypothesized that the children in our sample would display generally satisfactory well-being and good functioning in terms of positive affect, life satisfaction and happiness, despite their negativelifeconditions.Bothquantitativeandqualitativeanalysisofthedimensionsofparticipants'wellbeingwascarriedout. In particular, we explored the ecological dimensions affecting the wellbeing of Palestinian children through content analysis of narratives produced by the group of participants. Positive emotions were found to contributetowellbeingandlifesatisfactioninchildren,actingasprotectivefactorsindealingwithdailyviolence.Thechildrendisplayed a range of personal resources facilitated above all by the functioning community structure supporting them. Implications for clinical intervention are discussed

ahttp://www.academia.edu/34325490/Living_in_the_shadow_of_occupation_Life_satisfaction_and_positive_emotion_as_protective_factors_in_a_group_of_Palestinian_school_children