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Biomedical subjects

S Sagy

Publications and source records attributed to S Sagy.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Coping resources of maltreated children in the family: a salutogenic approach.

OBJECTIVE: Most research in child maltreatment within family focuses mainly on the pathological damage caused to the battered child. This study, based on a salutogenic approach, focuses on the resources that may help maltreated children to cope with their state and stay well. METHOD: Resilience was measured by two variables: perceived competence and psychological distress. The moderating or buffering variables that may contribute to better coping were: sense of family coherence, psychological sense of school membership, and social support. Two hundred and twenty-six 8th graders answered an anonymous self-report inventory. Based on the students' answers, they were divided into two groups: those who reported that they had been maltreated (MC) (n = 81) and those who did not (NMC) (n = 145). RESULTS: The study revealed a significantly high percentage of adolescents (35.6%) who reported having been maltreated within their families. A significant difference was found between the MC and the NMC in levels of perceived competence (higher for the NMC) and psychological distress (higher for the MC group). The moderating variables were found to have a differential effect on the dependent variables within the two groups. Sense of family coherence was found to be the main contributor to variance explanation of perceived competence among the MC, while sense of school membership had the main effect among NMC. CONCLUSIONS: The findings support a salutogenic approach in studying maltreated children. Implications on the possible detection of maltreated children in the community and on their coping resources that may contribute to resilience are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2000

The development of the sense of coherence: a retrospective study of early life experiences in the family.

This is an exploratory study of the relationship between three sociodemographic variables, four types of life experiences, and the development of the Sense of Coherence (SOC). The study was carried out using semi-structured life-history interviews of eighty-nine retirees whose SOC scores had been obtained in a previous study. The central research question was what kind of experiences within the family context during childhood are related to the development of the SOC. The interviews were scored on ten pre-coded variables derived from four types of life experiences which were hypothesized to shape the SOC: consistency, load balance, participation in shaping outcome, and emotional closeness. In addition, three sociodemographic variables, which were hypothesized to influence the family context by setting limits and offering opportunity for the kinds of interactions which might occur within the family, were measured: family education level, socioeconomic status, and gender. Results of the statistical analysis indicate that the most relevant childhood experience related to the adult SOC was participation in shaping outcomes. Both family education level and gender were related to SOC, directly and indirectly. Findings are discussed in terms of the salutogenic model and the historical and social context in which the interviewees grew up.

Aged↗
PubMed1994

The reality worlds of retirees: an Israeli case-control study.

The conceptual point of departure of this study was Cantril's "patterns of human concerns" as reflecting reality worlds. Subjects were 805 "on-time" retirees and 260 kibbutz members (who do not retire) interviewed at three points in time. We asked two questions: Can modal themes in this map of concerns be identified as characteristic of an Israeli cohort of the young elderly? Do gender, class, and retiree/kibbutz status lead to meaningful differences in mapping the world? A quite common modal pattern of concerns was found in the retiree sample, with a central focus on family and interpersonal relations. Commonalities between the different sociocultural groups seemed more striking than the differences.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1990

Confronting developmental tasks in the retirement transition.

This paper considers retirement as a widespread developmental transition. It seeks to exploit and advance Erikson's life cycle model, taken as a heuristic device, in three ways: noting major transition challenges between generativity and integrity; distinguishing between tasks and outcomes in such transitions; and viewing such tasks as derived from historical, biological, psychological, and sociocultural realities. Analysis of such realities in the lives of Israeli retirees pointed to four care tasks: active involvement, reevaluation of life satisfaction, reevaluation of a world view, and a sense of health maintenance.

Aged↗
PubMed1990

Attitudes toward retirement in an Israeli cohort.

The three-fold purpose of this study was 1) to clarify the concept of "attitudes toward retirement" and its multidimensional structure; 2) to test hypotheses about the relationship between attitudes and gender and SES; and 3) to analyze the relationship between attitudes and the Sense of Coherence concept in terms of the functional consequences of different attitudes. A sample of 805 (432 men and 373 women) Israeli "on-time" people on the verge of retirement were interviewed. Results point to the importance of distinguishing between perceptions of gains and losses in the retirement developmental transition; identification of blue-collar workers, with ambivalent attitudes, as a high-risk group; and the importance of a strong Sense of Coherence in adopting attitudes presumably functional in coping with the developmental transition.

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PubMed1986

Adolescents' reactions to the evacuation of the Sinai settlements: a longitudinal study.

This study investigated psychological reactions of adolescents to a severe stress situation--the evacuation of the Sinai settlements. The research focused on emotional reactions of anxiety and anger to this stress situation. Two central problems were investigated: The intensity of the emotional responses of anxiety and anger of the adolescents to the stress situation, before and after the evacuation, and the impact of three intervening variables on these emotional reactions--cognitive perception of the political situation, family functioning, and personality characteristics. Data for this study were collected in a regional high school in Israel from 418 pupils in 9th through 12th grades. Seventy-eight of the pupils lived in the Yamit area. Measurements were obtained at three points in time: 6 weeks and 1 week before the evacuation and 2 months after it. The results supported the predicted trend that adolescents in the Yamit group before the evacuation would score higher on state anxiety and state anger than would those in the comparison group. Two months after the evacuation there was a significant drop in those scores. The trait measures remained stable in both groups and no significant differences were found between the two groups on these scores. Concerning the impact of the three intervening variables on the intensity of the state emotional responses, the results did not support any of the hypotheses.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Structural sources of the sense of coherence. Two life stories of Holocaust survivors in Israel.

We describe a preliminary exploration of three types of life experiences hypothesized to be relevant to the development of the Sense of Coherence (SOC), the core concept in Antonovsky's salutogenic model. Salutogenesis, in contrast with pathogenesis, is concerned with factors promoting health, rather than those causing disease. The SOC deals with how individuals respond to stressors. It is defined as a global orientation expressing the extent to which one has a feeling of confidence that things will work out as well as can be expected. Three types of life experiences were hypothesized to shape the development of the SOC: consistency, emotional load balance, and sense of belonging. They were selected for a qualitative content analysis. One hundred retirees, whose SOC scores had been obtained in a previous study, were interviewed using a semistructured life-story interview. This paper deals with the analysis of the narratives of two women in the sample whose life histories were similar in their historical and social contexts. However, their present orientation toward life, as expressed both in their stories and their SOC scores, were different. The relationships between their life experiences and their perceptions of their lives at present are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗