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Resilience, Stringency of Restrictions and Psychological Consequences of Covid-19 in Israel: Comparing Jewish and Arab Samples
(Institute for Contemporary Affairs-Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Dr. Irwin J. Mansdorf with Drs. Michael Weinberg, Jacob Weinberg and Muhammad Mahajnah - The professional literature has found that the psychological effects of quarantine can be significant, especially if isolation continues beyond 10 days. We conducted a study of 196 Jewish (64% female) and 131 Arab Muslim (76% female) citizens of Israel between April 1 and May 4, 2020. The data shows that both Jewish and Arab Muslim citizens demonstrate good levels of psychological resilience, despite being under strict social distancing regulations that included extended periods of quarantine. When we looked at fear and concern over coronavirus that people felt, we found significant differences. While 38.8% of the Jewish sample felt a "high" level of concern for one's family, in the Arab Muslim sample the percentage was 64.9%. Differences were also noted in concern for one's community, with only 20.9% of the Jewish sample claiming "high" concern versus 64.1% of the Arab Muslim sample.