Malka Margalit

Tel Aviv University | TAU · School of Education

Parental stress is an integral part of parenthood. A high level of parental stress affects both parents and their children, as well as parent-child relationships. The parent’s resilience often predicts parental stress. The theoretical framework and current studies in this field often neglect the critical role that schools may play in parent’s wellb...

Loneliness has recently been defined as a public health problem, and college students from various cultures are considered a vulnerable group. As college students must cope with new personal, social, and academic challenges, their perceptions regarding their entitlement from their environment, and their gratefulness for the assistance they receive,...

Psychological burnout is strongly associated with negative effects on people’s life, including their emotional well-being and physical health. Due to prolonged periods of stress, heavy workloads, limited resources and time constraints, teachers are prone to burnout, leading to aversive, prolonged consequences. While previous studies have investigat...

The COVID-19 pandemic posed a major threat to public health, with long-lasting consequences for the daily habits and practices of people around the world. The combination of hazardous health conditions and extensive changes to people’s daily routines due to lockdowns, social restrictions, and employment uncertainty have led to mental health challen...

People believe that they are entitled to well-being and safety, and their responses to unexpected traumatic events reveal individual differences. Their reactions vary, from feeling blocked and distressed to feeling proactive towards new growth, depending on their personal resources. The current study sought to identify the role of entitlement in ex...

Encouraging organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is an ongoing challenge, particularly in today’s workplace. This study explores employees’ hope as an avenue to understanding their OCB. Specifically, we predicted and found a serial multiple mediation model indicating that perceived organizational support is positively related to employee belie...

In a world in which remote and hybrid work is becoming the new normal, the current study examines the relationship between remote work and job engagement and the roles that loneliness and hope play in this setting. Participants were 349 employees from the US and UK (170 men, 177 women, and two others), aged 21–69 (M = 38.8, SD = 9.9). The analysis...

Research on disabilities has generally used a deficit-oriented approach. However, recent appreciation of the personal strengths and positive traits of the disabled has raised awareness of them as empowering and activating factors. According to the hope theory, the ability to embrace future perspectives, set meaningful goals and plan specific paths...

This chapter focuses on salutogenesis and the sense of coherence during the adolescent years. The authors’ approach is itself salutogenic, in the sense that they develop their arguments in line with a positive youth development perspective. Adolescents are appreciated as individuals eager to explore the world, to acquire competence, and to struggle...

The Bloomsbury Handbook of Solitude, Silence and Loneliness is the first major account integrating research on solitude, silence and loneliness from across academic disciplines and across the lifespan. The editors explore how being alone – in its different forms, positive and negative, as solitude, silence and loneliness – is learned and developed,...

Research has already demonstrated the impact of positive and negative social interactions on one’s self-efficacy. In particular, empowering or degrading messages from school teachers may have a significant long-term effect on students’ self- efficacy. This is especially pertinent to students with ADHD symptoms, since they face increased challenges...

Following the conservation of resources, social-cognitive and hope theories, the goals of this study were to identify the role of self-efficacy, proactive coping, and hope as mediators in the relations between learning difficulties and loneliness distress. A questionnaire was sent to current and past students. The sample consisted of 498 participan...

Perceptions of social support contribute to positive adjustment even more than the actual provision of support. The goals of this study were to identify factors that may promote positive perceptions of the provision of on-campus support, especially in stressful times. The present study aimed to examine the predictive role of interpersonal resources...

You are most welcome to join us for this exciting international conference on Hope and Wellbeing. The conference is aimed to encourage investigation of the theory and practical applications of the hope construct, as well as to develop a network of hope researchers and facilitate international collaborative work. The conference is free to all and w...

The COVID-19 outbreak and the worldwide lockdown policy have an impact on citizens in different countries. Social isolation has been difficult for many people, and especially to those experiencing quarantine. To identify protective factors from negative outcomes of the quarantine, this study examined the mediation of internet-focused coping, hope a...

Objectives: The COVID-19 epidemic is affecting the entire world and hence provides an opportunity examine how people from different countries engage in hopeful thinking. The aim of this study was to examine the potentially facilitating role of perceived social support vis-à-vis hope as well as the mediating role of loneliness between perceived soc...

This study examined the predictive role of attention deficit disorders (ADHD) on the experience of loneliness among college students during the move to distance learning and social distancing policy during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study examined a serial multiple mediation of students’ experiences with distance learning, perceived social support,...

In light of the global crisis created by the outbreak of the coronavirus and the disease it causes, coronavirus disease 2019, the goal of the study was to detect factors that might enhance people's ability to experience positive psychological change during traumatic events. As such, this study examined the relationship between social participation...

As the COVID-19 outbreak peaks, millions of individuals are losing their income, and economic anxiety is felt worldwide. In three different countries (the USA, the UK, and Israel: N = 1200), the present study addresses four different sources of anxiety: health-related anxiety, economic-related anxiety, daily routine-change anxiety, and anxiety gene...

This study examined the predictive role of learning difficulties in the academic self-efficacy of students enrolled in higher education institutions and the serial multiple mediation of inner and external resources. The sample consisted of 2,113 students (age range = 18–35) at 25 higher education institutions in Israel. Participants were divided in...

School psychologist have been considered at a high risk for developing work burnout due to their multiple responsibilities, overload and engagement in caring for children, families and professionals. In line with the salutogenic approach, the aim of the current research was to investigate protective and risk factors to burnout. Research has indicat...

Coping with the loss of a child is a challenging and difficult experience that disrupts the lives of the surviving parents and the fabric of the family. Our goal is to identify the factors that help bereaved parents cope with this loss and introduce hope and future perspectives into their lives. Our sample consisted of 81 parents (30 fathers and 51...

The inclusion challenge of students with special educational needs does not end in the classroom. Mandatory community services in Israel may present unique challenges and supportive demands from their teachers. The goals of this study were to examine the risks experienced by youth with ADHD who joined rescue workers such as ambulance teams. The pre...

p style="text-align: justify;">The goals of the study were to examine the predictive power of general cognitive ability, working memory, and self-efficacy in first grade for academic functioning of children at risk for learning disabilities in second grade. The study involved 82 children (age 6-7 years) from five local public elementary schools in...

This study compared discrepancies between children’s academic and social self-perceptions and parents’ and teachers’ perceptions of children’s academic and social competence among 89 first-grade children: 45 children at risk for learning disabilities (RLD) and 44 of typically developing peers (TD). The relationship between self-perceptions among th...

העלייה בהיקף ההתאמות בדרכי היבחנות הניתנות לסטודנטים עם לקויות למידה ועם הפרעת קשב, על מנת להבטיח את זכותם לנגישות בהצגת ידיעותיהם על בסיס שוויון הזדמנויות, יצרו מציאות חברתית חדשה במערכת ההשכלה הגבוהה. מחקר זה התבסס על תפיסה אקולוגית-מערכתית ובחן את תופעת ההתאמות בדרכי היבחנות הן ברמת הפרט והן ברמה חברתית רחבה יותר. למחקר היו שתי מטרות מרכזיות: א....

The growing number of students with Learning Disabilities (LD) who are granted test accommodations raises many theoretical questions with educational implications. The aim of the current study is to examine levels of positive affect as an indicator of wellbeing among students with LD who receive test accommodations and to identify the mediating rol...

The degree of cohesion and support within families has often been considered a predictor of students' effort-investment and success in school. The objectives of this study are to examine the roles of personal factors (i.e., sense of coherence and hopeful thinking) as well as interpersonal factors (i.e., loneliness) in mediating the relationship bet...

Some resilient students with LD succeed ‘against the odds’ and reach college. The goals of the study are to explore their resources and barriers during their studies. The relationships between academic self-efficacy (ASE) and personal resources (sense of coherence (SOC) and hope) among college students with learning disabilities (LD) will be examin...

The main aim of this chapter is to summarize the main finding regarding SOC and adolescents in the last decade since adolescence is a period of growth and development which can potentially influence the emotional, motivational and behavioral components of SOC. The chapter is divided into the following sections: Adaptations of the Sense of Coherence...

The main aim of this chapter was to summarize the main finding regarding SOC and adolescents in the last decade since adolescence is a period of growth and development which can potentially influence the emotional-motivational and behavioral components of SOC. The chapter is divided into the following sections: Adaptations of the Sense of Coherence...

The goals of this chapter were to present the significance of the salutogenic conceptualization to the development and education of children, exploring in depth not only children with typical development, but also children with special needs, their schools, families, and community environments. In order to understand the developmental perspective o...

This article describes conceptual aspects, current policies and practices, and research representing the Israeli perspective regarding early childhood inclusion (ECI) at preschool ages (3–6 years). We review legislative, historical, attitudinal, philosophical, practical, empirical, and cultural issues regarding ECI in Israel. Finally, we focus on s...

Without Abstract Synonyms Dyscalculia; Dysgraphia; Dyslexia; Learning disabilities Overview The current chapter reviews and integrates conceptual and empirical research on specific learning disorder (SLD), including the following core topics: the definition and diagnostic criteria for SLD; its comorbidity with other disorders such as attention defi...

The transition to college often occasions excitement as well as elevated stress for students. The latter may be especially the case for those with learning disabilities (LD), who can encounter problems both socially and academically. This study follows students both with and without LD during the first month of college to explore the relationships...

The goals of the study were first to compare the social and academic well-being (loneliness and academic self-efficacy (ASE) among college students with and without learning disabilities (LD), as well as three personal strengths (hope, optimism and sense of coherence (SOC). The second goal was to identify the predicting factors to their loneliness...

The current study examines the relationships of students’ grades and goal achievement to changes in three personal resources (hope, self-efficacy and optimism), before and following participation in a focused hope intervention. According to Hobfoll’s (Am Psychol 44:513–524, 1989) conservation of resources paradigm, people attempt to amass and prote...

The transition to college enhances feelings of loneliness, and lonely students typically underperform academically due to the depletion of cognitive resources. Mindfulness practice has been demonstrated to improve certain cognitive abilities. The current study examined whether mindfulness practice may moderate the relations between perceived loneli...

The goals of the study were to examine personal resources and social distress during the first month in college among students with learning disabilities (LD) and to compare their experiences with non-LD peer. The sample consisted of 335 first-year undergraduate students falling into two groups: 85 students with LD and 250 non-LD students. Question...

This study sought to extend the research on adolescents' hope, academic expectations, and average grades. The hope theory (Snyder, Psychological Inquiry 13(4):249–275, 2002), the salutogenic paradigm (with a focus on sense of coherence (SOC) (Antonovsky 1987)), and Bandura's (Journal of Management 38(1):9–44, 2012) social learning theory (with a fo...

Teachers play a critical role in facilitating the academic achievements of students with learning disabilities (LD). The personal resources of teachers, such as sense of coherence (SOC) and hopeful thinking, may predict self-perception of the competency and efficacy they possess to help students with LD acquire needed learning skills. Several studi...

This article presents an international perspective of the proposed changes to the DSM-5 for learning disabilities (LD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorders (ADHD) across ten countries: Australia, Germany, Greece, India, Israel, Italy, Spain, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. We provide perspectives of the present situation...

The goals of this chapter are to explore the role of hope in predicting academic achievements and educational adjustment, focusing attention on developmental perspectives, and directing attention to different age groups: children, adolescents and young adults. The recent growing scientific interest in the hope theory and the contribution of future...

Loneliness can be a distressing feeling reflecting perceptions of critical failure in achieving valued interpersonal needs. Students with special educational needs (SEN, UNESCO, 2011), are currently defined by what they cannot do; by milestones unmet, activities avoided, and experiences denied because of their disabilities. They are considered at g...

The goals of the study were to examine the relations between maternal coping and hope among mothers who participated in early intervention program for their infants. Earlier studies focused attention on mothers’ experiences of stress and their coping. Within the salutogenic construct, we aim at examining relations between mothers’ coping and hope w...

Many students experience elevated psychological distress during their 1st year at college. Within the salutogenic paradigm (A. Antonovsky, 1987), sense of coherence (SOC), self-efficacy, and hope (in terms of hope theory; C. R. Snyder, 2002) are considered as protective factors in the demanding academic system. Study goals were to examine the outco...

This study aimed at examining the adjustment of students with learning disabilities (LD) and at exploring the mediating role of hope. By means of a multidimensional approach, the interactions between risk and protective factors emerging from internal and external resources among 856 high school students (10th to 12th grades) were analyzed. A total...

The study examined the contributions of individual and familial variables for the prediction of loneliness as a developmental risk and the sense of coherence as a protective factor. The sample consisted of 287 children from grades 5-6. Their loneliness, sense of coherence, hope, effort, and family climate were assessed. Separate hierarchical multip...

Many students experience elevated psychological distress during their first year at college. Within the salutogenic paradigm (Antonovsky, 1987), sense of coherence (SOC), self-efficacy and hope (in terms of Hope Theory; Snyder, 2002) are considered as protective factors in the demanding academic system. Study goals were to examine the outcomes of a...

The current chapter reviews and integrates new conceptual and empirical research regarding the role of parental coping resources in understanding children's and adolescents' adjustment, resilience, and well-being. In particular, this chapter discusses findings regarding the conceptual and empirical progress seen in the study of four major parental...

נייר עמדה זה מטרתו להציג סקירה אינטגרטיבית של מגוון תוכניות המעבר מבית הספר לעולם התעסוקה עבור בוגרי מסגרות החינוך עם מוגבלויות. הסקירה מבוססת על מחקרי הערכה בינלאומיים, ראיונות של אנשי מקצוע בתחום במדינת ישראל ועוד. המסמך גם מציע חלופות אפשריות לקידום תהליכי מעבר ממסגרות חינוך לתעסוקה תוך התייחסות לגורמי סיכון וגורמי הצלחה.

Many adolescents spend time online, communicating with friends, family members and strangers, and these social activities have been often related with their loneliness experience. The goals of this study were to examine the social distress expressed by adolescents with and without learning disabilities (LD) and to distinguish between unique adolesc...

This chapter presents a computer-assisted social skills learning program, and related outcome research studies, in an attempt to demonstrate the use of technology within intervention programming. In the current program, the computer was used as a controlled environment for experimenting and rehearsing solutions for social conflicts, and promoting m...

The study examined the contributions of individual and familial variables for the prediction of loneliness as a developmental risk and the sense of coherence as a protective factor. The sample consisted of 287 children from grades 5-6. Their loneliness, s

Though the tremendous amount of recently-emerged developmentally-oriented research has produced much progress in understanding the personality, social, and emotional characteristics of persons with intellectual disabilities (ID), there is still much we do not know, and the vast task of precisely charting functioning in all these areas, while also i...

Children’s loneliness is a major source of distress, and also a noteworthy developmental problem that can predispose them to immediate and long-term negative consequences. Currently, the importance of this harmful experience is emphasized, bearing in mind the almost unlimited interpersonal connectedness options that have recently been developing, t...

Loneliness is a threat to the positive development of children’s adaptation and reflects several cumulative risk and protective factors. The continuous professional efforts to support positive development and resilience require multifaceted strategies and strategic, sequential timing plans (Masten, Herbers, Cutuli, & Lafavor, 2008. In order to prev...

Adam, a 9-year-old boy, sat at home feeling very sad and alone. He kept thinking about the group of boys who had decided to go together to the football game during the weekend. He stood in the school yard next to them, listening to their exciting planning. He had hoped that they would ask him to join them, and was distressed that they had completel...

“School can be a very lonely place” concluded Rick (a 10-year-old boy who had just moved with his parents and sisters to a new apartment). He talked with his father about the new school, summarizing his first week’s experiences: “I am so alone there, and not only because I don’t know the children in my class, but I feel that my teachers are not the...

In our time, the constantly growing technology supported connectedness choices through communication paths such as social networking sites (i.e., Facebook) and cells’ oral and written communication, in addition to face-to-face contacts, the importance of children’s loneliness is accentuated, especially in the background of the extended and varied o...

When we met Dorin, she was a 10-year-old girl living in Boston. If you entered her room in one of the early autumn evenings, you could probably see her doing homework while listening to “noisy” music and, at the same time, sending texts on her cell to a group of friends. Her computer was on and she was also communicating with another group of frien...

Loneliness is a normative experience among children and adults as a part of their day-to-day occurrences. However, there is an urgent need for focused awareness, concerns, and interventions to help those children and adolescents who are often, and chronically, lonely and to reduce the risks for their becoming lonely adults. The goals of this chapte...

In the beginning of the school year, Roni, a 9-year-old shy girl, told her father quietly: “This year I wish to have many good friends.” Her father was surprised, and asked, “Don’t you already have many friends?” Sara, her older sister who listened to their conversation remarked, “Don’t you understand? Kids desperately need best friends.” Then quie...

Family studies provide important insights to the understanding of children’s and adolescents’ loneliness, given that the roots of interpersonal relations and loneliness experiences can be identified within this context. Children learn, construct, and experience their first social understanding in their families. They experiment basic interactions a...

This study evaluated a multidimensional model of loneliness as related to risk and protective factors among adolescents with learning disabilities (LD). The authors aimed to identify factors that mediated loneliness among 716 adolescents in Grades 10 through 12 who were studying in high schools or in Youth Education Centers for at-risk populations....

The goal of this study was to explore maternal stressors, needs, supports, perceptions, and self-identity as expressed by mothers of children with learning disabilities and/or attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in electronic messages posted on an Internet discussion board. The sample consisted of 316 mothers of children with learning...

From texting and social networking sites to after-school activities, young people have many opportunities to interact with one another, and yet loneliness and isolation trouble today's youth in increasing numbers. Many children and teens report feeling lonely even in the midst of family and friends, and childhood loneliness is a prime risk factor f...

Mothers of children with learning disabilities (LD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) were notified of the possibility that their online community was going to be closed. They immediately responded with messages about the significance of the community to their lives and distress that the site would not continue to be available. Th...

This study examined positive and negative affect among mothers of children with intellectual disabilities, as explained by maternal and family vulnerability and protective resources. These resources comprised the mother's avoidant/active coping strategies, stress, sense of coherence, and hope, as well as the family's cohesion and adaptability. The...

Mothers of children with learning disabilities (LD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) were notified of the possibility that their online community was going to be closed. They immediately responded with messages about the significance of the community to their lives and distress that the site would not continue to be available. Th...

The objectives of the study were to examine the characteristics of non-referred children with behaviour difficulties (BD) (such as verbal and physical aggression towards children and objects), aged 9

The goals of this study were to (a) examine differences between two age groups of adolescents with and without learning disabilities (LD) in their general and specific self-efficacy beliefs (in history and mathematics), their academic achievement (in history and mathematics), and their loneliness, effort, and hope; and (b) identify predictors of th...

The purpose of this study was to identify predictors of competence among adolescents with learning disabilities (LD) who participated in a virtual supported self-advocacy programme within the risk and protective paradigm. The sample consisted of 374 adolescents with and without learning disabilities, students of the 7th to 9th grades, at 15 schools...

Abstract. This study examined children’s presentations of the “LD experience” as expressed in online messages on a public website designed for children with learning and attention problems. Earlier research has demonstrated that children view the Internet as a social medium that enables communication and promotes personal relationships. In the curr...

This study examined children's presentations of the "LD experience" as expressed in online messages on a public website designed for children with learning and attention problems. Earlier research has demonstrated that children view the Internet as a social medium that enables communication and promotes personal relationships. In the current study,...

This study compared the social-emotional implications of academic achievement for students with and without learning disabilities (LD) and identified predictors of effort investment. Students with LD showed lower levels of achievement, effort investment, academic self-efficacy, sense of coherence, positive mood, and hope, and higher levels of lonel...

The aim of this study was to evaluate an intervention model for computer‐assisted social skills learning. The integration of technology enables experimentations within a controlled, structured, and easily changeable mini‐environment, emphasising four critical aspects of social learning: active learning, controlled and fluent processing, structure a...

The aim of the study was to examine factors that predict maternal stress, reported by mothers whose infants were diagnosed as having developmental disabilities at the beginning of participating in an early intervention programme ‘Me and My Mommy’ and after one year. A second goal was to identify and to portray a subgroup of resilient mothers. The s...

The goals of this study were to compare self-perceptions of self-efficacy, mood, effort, and hope between 123 adolescents with learning disabilities (LD) and a group of 123 Non-LD peers, who were matched for their level of academic performance and gender, and to explore the relations between measures of self-perception and achievement. The results...

Abstract The goal of the study was to identify and differentiate subgroups among mothers whose infants were diagnosed as having a developmental disability. The sample consisted of 80 mothers from intact families whose infants had such diagnoses, most of whom were diagnosed with Down syndrome. All mothers were receiving early intervention services....

The study examined children’s self-reported socio-emotional characteristics (loneliness and sense of coherence) and perception of their homeroom teacher as a secure base among 3rd-graders with reading difficulties prior to formal diagnostic assessment, thus controlling for the possible impact of diagnosis. In line with resilience theory, this study...

This chapter discusses the theoretical construct of loneliness development within a cognitive-affective model, detailing the meaning of loneliness for children and adolescents with developmental disabilities. Developmental theorists have conceptualized social competence as an organizational construct. Loneliness may emerge from different sources an...

The goal of this commentary is to focus attention on the various protective factors examined by the four studies of this special issue, in order to predict resilient functioning. These factors include internal factors (cognitive information processing, affective information processing—the attachment/proximity conceptualization) as well as external...

Development may be conceptualized as a process of repeated resilient reintegration, and resilience research is expected to identify the complex transactions and processes among internal and external (risk and protective) factors involved in that process. Through presenting a critical review of related research,Wong’s article demonstrates the abilit...

Abstract

In this commentary, I focus on 4 common issues of concern that are present in different forms in the country reviews: how (a) philosophies, laws, and ethics influence special education research; (b) policy making and research affect each other; and (c) research topics are selected and (d) who conducts special education research with what methodolog...