This study, based on the cognitive model of stress (Lazarus, 1999), examined 294 Jewish and 234 Arab students’ stress appraisals, coping strategies, and emotional and behavioral reactions to academic stressors. Perceived stress was positively related to emotion/support and avoidance coping, which, in turn, were related to high negative affect and risk taking. The findings suggest interventions among students to aid them to successfully adapt to academic stress.
KeywordsAcademic StressorCopingNegative AffectRisk TakingJewish/Arab Cultural Groups
Ben-Zur, H. (2012). Loneliness, optimism, and well-being among married, divorced and widowed individuals. The Journal of Psychology, 146, 23-36. doi:10.1080/00223980.2010.548414
Ben-Zur, H., Gilbar, O., & Lev, S. (2001). Coping with breast cancer: Patient, spouse and dyadic models. Psychosomatic Medicine, 63, 32-39.
Ben-Zur, H., & Debi, Z. (2005). Optimism, social comparisons and coping with vision loss in Israel. Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness, 99, 151-164.
Ben-Zur, H., Rappaport, B., Ammar, R., & Uretzky, G. (2000). Coping strategies, life style changes, and pessimism after open-heart surgery. Health and Social Work, 25, 201-209. doi:10.1093/hsw/25.3.201
Ben-Zur, H., Yagil, D., & Oz, D. (2005). Coping strategies and leadership in the adaptation to social change: The Israeli kibbutz. Anxiety, Stress and Coping, 18, 87-103. doi:10.1080/10615800500093702
Ben-Zur, H., & Zeidner, M. (2009). Threat to life and risk-taking behaviors: A review of empirical findings and explanatory models. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 13, 109-128. doi:10.1177/1088868308330104
Ben-Zur, H., & Zeidner, M. (2012). Gender differences in loss of psychological resources following experimentally-induced vicarious stress. Anxiety, Stress and Coping, 25, 457-475.
Carver, C. S., & Scheier, M. (1993). Vigilant and avoidant coping in two patient groups. In H. W. Krohne (Ed.), Attention and avoidance (pp. 295-319). Seattle: Hogrefe & Huber.
Carver, C. S., Scheier, M. F., & Weintraub, J. K. (1989). Assessing coping strategies: A theoretically based approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 267-283.doi:10.1037/0022-3514.56.2.267
CBS Press Release (2011). 63rd independence day—Approximately 7,746,000 residents in the State of Israel. Central bureau of statistics, State of Israel. URL (last checked 3 October 2011). www.cbs.gov.il
Crowne, D. P., & Marlowe, D. (1964). The approval motive: Studies in evaluative dependence. New York: Wiley.
Dwairy, M. (2004). Culturally sensitive education: Adapting self-ori- ented assertiveness training to minorities. Journal of Social Issues, 60, 423-436. doi:10.1111/j.0022-4537.2004.00114.x
Dwairy, M. (2006). Parenting styles and mental health of Arab gifted adolescents. The Gifted Child Quarterly, 48, 275-286. doi:10.1177/001698620404800403
Folkman, S., & Lazarus, R. S. (1985). If it changes it must be a process: Study of emotion and coping during three stage of a college exam. Journal of Personality and Socia Psychology, 48, 150-170.doi:10.1037/0022-3514.48.1.150
Gaudreau, P., Blondin, J. P., & Lapierre, A. M. (2002). Athletes’ coping during a competition: Relationship of coping strategies with positive affect, negative affect, and performance-goal discrepancy. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 3, 125-150. doi:10.1016/S1469-0292(01)00015-2
Gelhaar, T., Seiffge-Krenke, I., Borge, A., Cicognani, E., Cunha, M., Loncaric, D., Macek, P., Steinhausen, H.-C., & Winkler Metzke, C. (2007). Adolescent coping with everyday stressors: a seven nation-study with youth from Central, Eastern, Southern and Northern Europe. European Journal of Developmental Ppsychology, 4, 129- 156. doi:10.1080/17405620600831564
Glazer, S., & Beehr, T. A. (2005). Consistency of implications of three role stressors across four countries. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 26, 467-487. doi:10.1002/job.326
Habib, J. (2008). The Arab population in Israel: Selected educational, economic, health and social indicators. Brookdale Institute.
Hirschberger, G, Florian, V., Mikulincer, M., Goldenberg, J. L., & Pyszczynski, T. (2002). Gender differences in the willingness to engage in risky behavior: A terror management perspective. Death Studies, 26, 117-141. doi:10.1080/074811802753455244
Johnson, R. J., Canetti, D., Palmieri, P. A., Galea, S., Varley, J., & Hobfoll, S. E. (2009). A prospective study of risk and resilience factors associated with posttraumatic stress symptoms and depression symptoms among Jews and Arabs exposed to repeated acts of terrorism in Israel. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 1, 291-311. doi:10.1037/a0017586
Kamm, S. (2003). The Arab minority in Israel: Implications for the Middle East conflict. URL (last checked 3 October 2011). http://www.ceps.be
Khamaisi, R. (2011). Arab society in Israel: Population, society, economy. Jerusalem: Van leer Jerusalem Institute, Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House.
Lazarus, R. S. (1999). Stress and emotion: A new synthesis. London: Free Association Books.
Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal and coping. New York: Springer-Verlag.
Lowe, R., Norman, P., & Bennett, P. (2000). Coping, emotion and perceived health following myocardial infarction: Concurrent and predictive associations. British Journal of Health Psychology, 5, 337-350. doi:10.1348/135910700168964
Major, B., Richards, C., Cooper, M. L., Cozzarelli, C., & Zubek, J. (1998). Personal resilience, cognitive appraisals, and coping: An integrative model of adjustment to abortion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 735-752. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.74.3.735
Ntoumanis, N., & Biddle, S. J. H. (1998). The relationship of coping and its perceived effectiveness to positive and negative affect in sport. Personality and Individual Differences, 24, 773-788.doi:10.1016/S0191-8869(97)00240-7
Oyserman, D., Coon, H. M., & Kemmelmeier, M. (2002). Rethinking individuals and collectivism. Psychological Bulletin, 128, 3-72.doi:10.1037/0033-2909.128.1.3
Pat-Horenczyk, R., Peled, O., Miron, T., Brom, D., Villa, Y., & Chemtob, C. M. (2007). Risk-taking behaviors among Israeli adolescents exposed to recurrent terrorism: Provoking danger under continuous threat? American Journal of Psychiatry, 164, 66-72.doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.164.1.66
Penley, J. A., Tomaka, J., & Wiebe, J. S. (2002). The association of coping to physical and psychological health outcomes: A meta-ana- lytic review. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 25, 551-603doi:10.1023/A:1020641400589
Saklofske, D. H., Austin, E. J., Mastoras, S. M., Beaton, L., & Osborne, S. E. (2012). Relationships of personality, affect, emotional intelligence and coping with Student stress and academic success: Different patterns of association for stress and success. Learning and Individual Differences, 22, 251-257. doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2011.02.010
Schaufeli, W. B., & Janczur, B. (1994). Burnout among nurses: A Polish-Dutch comparison. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 25, 95-113. doi:10.1177/0022022194251006
Schiff, M. (2006) Living in the shadow of terrorism: Psychological distress and alcohol use among religious and non-religious adolescents in Jerusalem. Social Sciences & Medicine, 62, 2301-2312. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2005.10.016
Schiff, M., Pat-Horenczyk, R., Benbenishty, R., Brom, D., Baum, N., & Astor, R. A. (2010). Do adolescents know when they need help in the aftermath of war? Journal of Traumatic Stress, 23, 657-660. doi:10.1002/jts.20558
Spector, P. E., Cooper, C. L., & Aguilar-Vafaie, M. E. (2002). A comparative study of perceived job stressor sources and job strain in American and Iranian managers. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 51, 446-457. doi:10.1111/1464-0597.00102
Spector, P. E., Cooper, C. L., Poelmans, S., Allen, T. D., O’Driscoll, M., Sanchez, J. I., Siu, O., Dewe, P., Hart, P., Lu, L., De-Moreas, L. F. R., Ostrognay, G. M., Sparks, K., Wong, P., & Yu, S. (2004). A cross-national comparative study of work-family stressors, working hours, and well-being: China and Latin America vs. the Anglo world. Personnel Psychology, 57, 119-142.doi:10.1111/j.1744-6570.2004.tb02486.x
Struthers, C. W., Perry, R. P., & Menec, V. H. (2000). An examination of the relationship among academic stress, coping, motivation, and performance in college. Research in Higher Education, 41, 581-592. doi:10.1023/A:1007094931292
Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scale. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1063-1070. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.54.6.1063
Zeidner, M. (1987). The validity of college admission indices for Jews and Arabs in Israel. Personality and Individual Differences, 8, 587- 589. doi:10.1016/0191-8869(87)90225-X
Zeidner, M. (1992). Sources of academic stress: The case of first year Jewish and Arab students in Israel. Higher Education, 24, 26-40. doi:10.1007/BF00138616
Zeidner, M. (1995). Coping with examination stress: Resources, strategies, outcomes. Anxiety, Stress and Coping, 8, 279-298. doi:10.1080/10615809508249379
Zeidner, M. (1998). Personality and Intelligence. In B. Nevo (Ed.), Human intelligence (Vol. 2, pp. 725-762). Ramat Aviv: Open University.
Zeidner, M. (2007). Anxiety and coping with community disasters: The Israeli experience. Journal of Research in Personality, 41, 213-220. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2006.02.002
Zeidner, M., & Ben-Zur, H. (1993). Coping with a national crisis: The Israeli experience with the threat of missile attacks. Personality and Individual Differences, 14, 209-224.
Zeidner, M., & Ben-Zur, H. (1994). Individual differences in anxiety, coping, and post-traumatic stress in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War. Personality and Individual Differences, 16, 459-476.doi:10.1016/0191-8869(93)90191-5
Zeidner, M., & Ben-Zur, H. (2012). Subjective well-being (SWB) and personal resources: A comparison of Jewish and Arab Students in Israel.Haifa: University of Haifa.
Zeidner, M. & Schwarzer, Ch. (1996). Perceptions of academic stress in first year Israeli and German college students. In Ch. Schwarzer et al. (Eds.), Stress, anxiety, and coping in academic settings (pp. 69-92). Tubingen: Francke-Verlag