Difference between Minorities and Majorities in the Association between COVID-19-Related Stress and Psychological Distress: A Socio-Ecological Perspective and the Moderating Role of Parenthood

Lubna Tannous-Haddad, Dorit Hadar-Shoval, Michal Alon-Tirosh, Kfir Asraf and Orna Tzischinsky
Additional contact information
Lubna Tannous-Haddad: Behavioral Sciences Department, The Max Stern Yezreel Valley College, Yezreel Valley 1930600, Israel
Dorit Hadar-Shoval: Psychology Department, The Max Stern Yezreel Valley College, Yezreel Valley 1930600, Israel
Michal Alon-Tirosh: Behavioral Sciences Department, The Max Stern Yezreel Valley College, Yezreel Valley 1930600, Israel
Kfir Asraf: Psychology Department, The Max Stern Yezreel Valley College, Yezreel Valley 1930600, Israel
Orna Tzischinsky: Educational Counseling Department, The Max Stern Yezreel Valley College, Yezreel Valley 1930600, Israel

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 14, 1-11

Abstract: This study introduces a socio-ecological perspective of differences in psychological distress between the Palestinian minority and Jewish majority citizens of Israel during lockdown due to COVID-19. The study examines the association between COVID-19-related stress and psychological distress, and the moderating effect of parenthood. Online questionnaires, completed by 1934 participants (1391 Jews, 552 Palestinians; 1306 parents, 637 without children; 54.86% female, 45.13% male; M age = 40.38, SD = 13.77) assessed COVID-19-related stressors and depression, anxiety, and stress. The Palestinian minority showed a higher level of COVID-19-related stress and psychological distress than the Jewish majority. Parenthood showed a moderating effect on the association between COVID-19-related stress and distress for the Jewish majority but not the Palestinian minority. The results emphasize the significance of considering social status when seeking to understand the differences between minorities and majorities in terms of distress and resilience during pandemic events, and the need for cultural sensitivity and awareness when issuing instructions in such circumstances. Additionally, the results highlight the potential role of parenthood as a resilience factor, depending upon social status.

Keywords: COVID-19-related stress; psychological distress; socio-ecological model; parenthood; minorities and majorities; Jews and Palestinians (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/14/8283/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/14/8283/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:14:p:8283-:d:857357

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().