Iraqi adolescents have higher self-esteem when the threat of War is high

University of Cincinnati researchers are reportedly saying that there is a significant pattern among Iraqi adolescents and their reaction to the war in Iraq. The higher the perceived threat of the war, the higher the teens reported their self-esteem.

These findings come from a 2004 survey of 1,000 Iraqi adolescents in 10 neighborhoods in Baghdad, some what small considering the size the war has become.

Steve Carlton-Ford, a University of Cincinnati, says the findings  are giving us a rare look at the impact of war on adolescents. In general, sociologists and psychologists have mostly been examining how war affects small children, so this is new type of research being conducted. Carlton-Ford adds that in the cases of young children, conflict-related events typically lower a child’s psychological well-being.

The authors found that despite obvious threat to the adolescents’ feeeling of security, the youth were coping pretty well in 2004, with self-esteem levels comparable to that of Palestinian youth. “In the presence of war related trauma you generally observes lower levels of psychological well-being, and most of the time, lower self-esteem” write the authors. The results, however, are consistent with a prediction that self-esteem  is higher among the individuals who face indirect threats to central components of their social identities (rather than directly facing traumatic war-related events).

In other words, in a situation where we observe a broader social context involving the presence of foreign forces combined with general violence throughout Baghdad and Iraq, there can be seen a heightened sense of self, at least to the extent that one’s self is tied to one’s nation.”

The study suggests future surveys of adolescents under conditions of armed conflict to track their
self-concept as they become young adults.

Here are the results taken from Source

Iraqi Neighborhoods Surveyed
Al-Adhimiya
Al-Kadhimiya
Sadr City
Al-Dourah
Al-Ghazaliya
Al-Jamiah
Al-Khadhra
Al-Shoula
Hay Al-Mekanik
Al-Rahmaniyah

Average age: 15

Gender
Female   29.5 percent
Male       70.5 percent

Ethnicity
Arab                88.9 percent
Kurds & Others  11.1 percent

Religion
Sunni Muslim       36.3 percent
Shi’a Muslim          57.5 percent
Christian and other religion  6.2 percent

Most Important National Concern
Multi-National Forces Leaving        41.7 percent
Peace          28.6 percent
Security       19.6 percent
Democracy    5.3 percent
Jobs               40 percent
No response    0.8 percent

Most Important Personal Concern
Family                        46.5 percent
Country                       25.7 percent
Good job                     15.1 percent
Friends                        5.2 percent
Soccer (football)            3.9 percent
No response/other         3.6 percent

Self-Regard               13.1 (low=5; high=16)
Self-derogation            4.09 (low=2; high=8)
Family threat               6.46 (low=0; high=9)
National threat               4.85  (low=0 to high=6)

Read more in the Latest Articles of the Journal of Adolescence

 

Comments

[Bob]

Very interesting, not at all what I would have thought.

[mellowmuppet]

No i didnt tink that either but it caught my attention