Muhammad M. Haj-Yahia

• Doctor of Philosophy in Social Work
• Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Purpose This study examined the association between a child’s or adolescent’s witnessing or direct experience of interparental violence on the manifestation of post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in young adults in Taiwan. It then analyzed the role of social support as a mediator and gender as a moderator in this association. Method This was a c...

Objective: The prolonged and continuous conflict of the Palestinian minority in Israel with the Jewish majority and its cumulative sociopolitical stress (e.g., national incongruity, racism, community, and political violence) may put this minority at risk for psychological distress. This experience may lead to maladaptive behaviors, such as perpetra...

Children living in households where severe intimate partner violence (IPV) exists sometimes move with their mothers to shelters for battered women. Although there is an increased interest in research exploring children's exposure to IPV, little is known about children's subjective experiences during their stay in shelters. The present study examine...

A qualitative study examined children's subjective perception of their mother's situation during their stay in shelters for battered women (SBW). Thirty-two children, aged 7–12 years, who were staying with their mothers in SBWs participated in this study. Thematic analysis revealed the following two core themes: children's perceptions and insights,...

Background: Exposure to ethnic- and race-related stress (e.g., racism, racial discrimination, and micro-aggression) can impair parenting and parent-child relations. Objective: This study examines the exposure of Palestinian parents in Israel to two levels of racism, interpersonal racism (IPR) and perceived collective racism (PCR), and the relati...

Background: Extensive research supports the existence of a "cycle of violence" that links exposure to parental violence during childhood (i.e., witnessing interparental violence and child maltreatment) with intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration. However, there is still a need to explore the mechanisms through which early exposure to parenta...

Exposure to parental violence in childhood is a significant predictor of psychological distress in adulthood. Factors at the individual level may explain the variance in psychological distress among adults exposed to parental violence. The current study examined the effect of exposure to different forms (i.e., physical violence and psychological ag...

Children's exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious problem that has been increasingly examined during the last four decades. In the case of severe IPV, children are placed with their mothers in shelters for women survivors of domestic violence (SDV). The current study aimed to understand young children's descriptions of relating wi...

A heated cultural and religious debate endures in the Muslim world around the question of whether Islamic theology allows for giving religious philanthropy to non-Muslims, as individuals or nonprofit organizations. The debate pertains especially to the practice of zakat, which considered to be a religious practice of giving to Muslim compatriots. Y...

Beliefs of Israeli undergraduate students of social work about wife-beating were examined, based on a combination of two theoretical frameworks, i.e., patriarchal ideology (as reflected in participants’ attitudes toward women and marital role expectations) and social learning theory (as reflected in their exposure to family violence during childhoo...

Background Youth exposure to community violence (ECV) in the Palestinian society is an alarming problem. Yet, there is serious scarcity of research on its mental health consequences. Objectives The study examined the relationships between youth ECV and internalizing and externalizing symptoms as well as the moderating and mediating effects of gend...

A major goal of this volume is to create a forum for the integration of three areas: theory and research on the effects of exposure to political violence (EPV), intervention to aid victims of EPV, and the prevention of EPV. It notes the lack of application of social science research and theory to prevention of EPV. The introductory chapter presents...

The introductory chapter presents the major goal of this volume: creating a forum for the integration of three areas: theory and research on the effects of exposure to political violence (EPV), intervention to aid victims of EPV, and the prevention of EPV. It notes the relative lack of application of social science research and theory to prevention...

This chapter investigates the relationship between prolonged exposure to political violence (EPV) and post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) among Palestinian adolescents. It also examines the moderating effect of participants’ age, gender, and parental socialization styles on the relationship between EPV and PTSS. A systematic cluster random sample...

Extensive research has been conducted on the effects of children’s exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV). Nonetheless, there is a dearth of research on children’s subjective perception of the process of leaving their home with their mother to shelters for battered women. Based on thematic analysis of in-depth, semi-structured interviews with...

This study aimed to examine the relationship of exposure to family violence (i.e., experiencing parental physical violence [PH] and psychological aggression [PA] and witnessing interparental PH and PA) during childhood and adolescence with posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) during young adulthood. In addition, the mediating role of self-efficacy...

Witnessing or experiencing violence early in childhood is a significant risk factor for later perpetration of intimate partner violence (IPV) by men against women. Despite a large body of research on the topic, there is a need for more specific information about how differing patterns of family violence might pose distinct risks of later mental hea...

Background: In this study, we examined the associations of parents' and adolescents' exposure to community violence (CV) with externalizing and internalizing symptoms among adolescents aged 14–18, and the mediating role of some parental factors in these relationships. The study was based on the secondary trauma perspective in explaining parents' ex...

The goal of this study was to understand the relation between adolescents’ long-term exposure to political violence (EPV) and post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). We examined the relations among EPV, PTSS, and self-esteem to determine whether self-esteem could buffer the effects of EPV on PTSS. A systematic cluster random sample of 2,934 Palestin...

The study examined family and teacher support as factors that can protect adolescents from internalized and externalized problems after exposure to community violence (ECV). Self-administered questionnaires were filled out by a sample of 1,832 Arab and Jewish Israeli high school students. The Arab adolescents reported significantly higher levels of...

This study examined the rates of exposure to community violence (ECV; that is, witnessing and directly experiencing violence) as well as the detrimental consequences of such exposure as reflected in posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and a decline in psychological well-being (PWB) among parents. In addition, the study examined whether self-effica...

This article presents the findings of a study that examined the rates and the consequences of exposure to community violence (ECV) as reflected in witnessing and experiencing such violence, among Palestinian adolescents from Israel. In particular, it examined the extent to which these adolescents exhibit high levels of internalizing and externalizi...

The study examined the attitudes of Palestinian adults toward social work interventions in cases of husband-to-wife assault (HWA). A survey, using self-administered questionnaires and interviews, was conducted among a random sample of 624 adults from the Palestinian Authority. Results indicate higher levels of support for interventions aimed at hel...

This study examines the influence of patriarchal ideology on women's beliefs about wife beating. A convenience sample of 701 married Palestinian women from Israel was obtained, and a self-report questionnaire was administered. The findings revealed that large percentages of Palestinian women expressed some tendency to justify wife beating in certai...

In the last two decades, there has been a growing understanding that the therapeutic encounter with sex offenders takes a cost and has consequences on therapists. Despite the increasing research on the consequences of treating sex offenders, these studies in fact, have merely described the consequences, without providing an outlook for how therapis...

Despite the increasing interest in therapists' responses to their encounter with sex offenders, there is a lack of research on their subjective perceptions of this encounter and on their experience working with this client population. The study presented in this article is part of a larger qualitative research project conducted among 19 social work...

Based on an integrative framework, this study addresses the beliefs that a group of social work students from Taiwan had about wife beating. A self-administered questionnaire was filled out by 790 students (76.5% female, 23.5% male) spanning all 4 years of undergraduate studies. The results show that male students exhibited a greater tendency than...

This article presents a study that examined beliefs about violent husbands and about helping battered women among Palestinian women living in Israel from the perspective of patriarchal ideology. A convenience sample of 701 married women was obtained, and a self-report questionnaire was administered. The findings reveal that the majority of particip...

The global mental health ramifications of political violence and intimate partner violence (IPV) are well established. There also exists a growing body of evidence about the increased risks for IPV within situations of political violence. Yet, except for a few studies, there is little literature that simultaneously examines how political violence a...

Extensive research has been conducted in recent decades on the mental health consequences of Palestinians’ exposure to military and political violence. Despite the alarming rates of Palestinian youth exposure to community violence (ECV), there is a serious dearth of research on the effects of this pattern of exposure. The current study focused on t...

The influence of Palestinian physicians’ patriarchal ideology (PAI) and exposure to family violence (EFV) on their beliefs about wife beating was examined. Self-administered questionnaires were completed by 396 physicians. The results revealed that notable percentages of the physicians expressed some level of willingness to justify wife beating, te...

The article presents the results of a study on the relationship between exposure to (i.e., witnessing and experiencing) different patterns and types of family violence during childhood, during adolescence, and during young adulthood, on one hand, and adult post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), on the other. A cross-sectional survey was conducted a...

Normative socio-cultural influences may lead to parent–child value similarity over and above familial processes. Such influences, in which the mainstream position taken by people in a given culture leads to an average similarity between unrelated members of the culture, have been investigated for the most part by considering one country at a time....

Adolescent community violence exposure (CVE) has been linked to posttraumatic stress (PTS) and has been found to vary by race and ethnicity. Little is known about the relationship between adolescent CVE and PTS across ethnic groups in an international context. Arab and Jewish high school students (n = 1571) in Israel completed self-report questionn...

This paper presents results from a nationally representative cross-sectional survey of married women (N = 3,500) in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Interviews assessed the 12-month prevalence of participants’ exposure to psychological, physical, and sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) and risk factors including: demographic characteristics, severa...

Research has documented a link between political violence and the functioning of individuals and communities. Yet, despite the hardships that political violence creates, evidence suggests remarkable fortitude and resilience within both individuals and communities. Individual characteristics that appear to build resilience against political violence...

The article presents results from a larger survey, which examined the attitudes and perceptions of Palestinian physicians (N = 396) toward wife abuse. The instrument was a self-administered questionnaire, with open-ended questions in which participants expressed their definitions of wife abuse, their perceptions of the causes of wife abuse, and the...

The article presents the results of a study that explored the rates and characteristics of exposure to community violence (CV) and its relevance to several sociodemographic factors among a sample of 1,930 Palestinian youth (1,018 girls and 912 boys), aged 12 to 19 years residing in diverse residential areas in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Data...

Adolescent community violence exposure (CVE) has been linked to posttraumatic stress (PTS) and has been found to vary by race and ethnicity. Little is known about the relationship between adolescent CVE and PTS across ethnic groups in an international context. Arab and Jewish high school students (n = 1571) in Israel completed self-report questionn...

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of Palestinian adults toward different dimensions of wife abuse. A cross-sectional survey, using a combination of self-administered questionnaires and interviews, was conducted among a systematic random sample of 624 adult Palestinian men and women from the West Bank and Gaza Strip (18 years...

Background and Purpose: Youth community violence exposure (CVE) includes victimization, perpetration, witnessing, or possessing knowledge of others' victimization in community settings (Guterman & Cameron, 1998). Youth CVE has been shown to be a problem in many national contexts (e.g. Ward et al., 2001; Vermeiren et al., 2003) and is linked to nega...

Several models and modalities of intervention with battered women have been developed over the past three decades. The common assumptions underlying these interventions include: violence and abuse are never appropriate in intimate relationships; battered women have a non-negotiable right to safety; the women's strengths and competencies should be e...

An integrative theoretical framework was tested as the basis for explaining beliefs about wife beating among Turkish nursing students. Based on a survey design, 406 nursing students (404 females) in all 4 years of undergraduate studies completed a self-administered questionnaire. Questionnaires were distributed and collected from the participants d...

In this study, we examined what contextual factors influence adolescents' judgments and reasoning about spousal retribution. Adolescents were drawn from Central and Northern Israel and consisted of 2,324 Arab and Jewish students (Grades 7-11). The study was set up in a 2 (Arab/Jewish respondent) × 2 (spousal retribution scenarios) factorial design....

The research explored the rates and characteristics of exposure to community violence (CV) and its relevance to several sociodemographic factors among a sample of 833 Arab youth aged 14–18 years residing in diverse residential areas in Israel. Data were collected using a self-report questionnaire. The frequency of exposure to CV during the past 12...

We examined help-seeking and internal obstacles to receiving psychosocial support in the wake of community violence exposure in a sample of 1,835 Arab and Jewish adolescents living in Israel. Paper and pencil surveys conducted in schools examined adolescents’ personal victimization and witnessing of community violence in the past year, and then que...

This research investigated the learning and supervisory styles among a population of supervisors (N = 133) and social work trainees (N = 333). Using Kolb's Learning Style Index, the study looked at the ways learning styles change over the course of a three-year BSW program, distribution of supervisory styles among the fieldwork supervisors, and sim...

Background Intimate-partner violence might increase during and after exposure to collective violence. We assessed whether political violence was associated with male-to-female intimate-partner violence in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Intimate-partner violence might increase during and after exposure to collective violence. We assessed whether political violence was associated with male-to-female intimate-partner violence in the occupied Palestinian territory. A nationally representative, cross-sectional survey was done between Dec 18, 2005, and Jan 18, 2006, by the Palestinian...

The article presents the results of a study on the association between exposure to family violence (i.e., witnessing interparental violence and experiencing parental violence) during childhood and adolescence and adult posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The study was conducted among a self-selected convenience sample of 476 students from Sri Lan...

This study assessed the effects of the ongoing violence on the mental health of Palestinian and Israeli youths. Parallel instruments were developed and adapted, as part of a collaborative project, in order to assess, in each society: (1) differential rates of exposure to the conflict, (2) the association between exposure and the severity of posttra...

The article presents the results of a study that examined Palestinian physicians' misconceptions about abused wives and abusive husbands and the extent to which Palestinian physicians approve of wife abuse. Self-administered questionnaires were completed by 396 physicians. The results revealed that between 10% and 49% of the Palestinian physicians...

We present a qualitative study of battered women, which examined their experiences while staying at shelters. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 battered women staying at shelters. The interviews elicited four main themes: the women’s perceptions of the shelter; the woman’s perceptions of herself and her life experiences; t...

A qualitative study among 22 young adults (20-25 years old) whose parents divorced during their childhood was conducted in Israel, using semi-structured, in-depth, open-ended interviews. Qualitative data analysis led to identification of three profiles, aiming at a grounded theoretical conceptualization. Three core themes were identified: the centr...

This paper presents a study on the self-reported usage and attitudes toward corporal punishment (CP) by a four generation sample of Jewish families in Jerusalem. The study included 655 participants: 200 adolescents, 208 young mothers, 199 old mothers, and 48 grandmothers, and tested for inter-generational and familial role differences. Results have...

The study had two objectives: to examine the rates of exposure to family violence among students in a non-Western society, with Sri Lanka as a case study and to examine the psychological effects of their exposure. Four hundred seventy six medical students in Sri Lanka were surveyed. A self-administered questionnaire was utilized, which included two...

The paper documents a study conducted among 225 Palestinian pre-school teachers from Israel. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire that examined the teachers’ attitudes towards reporting child abuse and neglect. In general, the participants’ attitudes towards reporting child abuse and neglect to the child protection services...

The aim of this study has been to examine the effect of retrospective report of political violence during the first Intifada (1987—1993) on psychological adjustment of 1185 Palestinian adolescents (10th to 12th graders) seven years after the first Intifada had ended. Analysis of the inter-relations was conducted between self-reported measures of po...

The authors conducted an exploratory study among a convenience sample of 260 Jordanian men and women, using self-administered open and closed questions to examine the participants' approach toward wife abuse. In general, there was high awareness of wife abuse and the different types of abuse (mainly physical and psychological), a general tendency t...

The paper presents a study conducted among 173 Turkish medical students, which examined their beliefs about wife beating through a self-administered questionnaire. An integrative conceptual framework was tested as the basis for explaining the students’ beliefs. The results revealed that between 4.5 and 38.7% of the participants justified wife beati...

A qualitative study examined the perceptions of 22 Israeli young adults (ages 20–25) of childhood parental divorce. Respondents discussed their experiences, including economic consequences of the divorce. Results related to the practical aspect of economic decline, to economic issues as embodiment of parental conflicts, and to children’s emotional...

Over the past three decades, several models for individual and group intervention with battered women have been developed. The common assumption underlying all of these models is that violence and abuse are never appropriate in an intimate relationship, and that battered women have a basic right to safety, which is not negotiable. Because almost al...

This study examined the psychological consequences of adolescents' exposure to psychological abuse and physical violence in the family. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to a sample of 1,185 Palestinian adolescents. Different forms of the Conflict Tactic Scales were used to measure adolescents' witnessing and experiencing different...

In this commentary, I have attempted to address several conceptual, methodological, and ethical issues which I believe are relevant to research on exposure of Palestinian children to political violence. Although I believe the issues and challenges discussed here have relevance beyond Palestinian children and their families, I have identified some o...

The article focuses on definitions of and beliefs about wife abuse among undergraduate social work students in Israel. Data were collected through self-administered questionnaires. The vast majority of students in Study 1 acknowledged acts thought to constitute wife assault and disapproved of a husband's use of force against his wife. The majority...

The article presents the results of a study on beliefs about wife beating conducted among 476 Sri Lankan medical students. Participants fill out a selfadministered questionnaire, which examines six beliefs about wife beating. Most students tend to justify wife beating, to believe women benefit from wife beating, and to believe the wife bears more r...

English Social work development in Taiwan over the past five decades has been analyzed according to professional elements, historical background and the challenge of globalization and civilization. It also offers the factors that influence the process of professional formation of social work globally and the concern of social work indigenization. F...

This article examines the "geography" of reported cases of child maltreatment in Israel by determining its frequency and rates according to nationality, area of residence, and size and type of locality. The study collected data at the local level in Israel based on reports to social services of cases of child maltreatment during 2000; locality is t...

The present study focused on 1,111 engaged Arab women in Israel, examining the different patterns of abuse and battering they experienced by their fiancés. The results revealed that between 8% and 48% of the respondents had experienced psychological aggression by their partners and between 1% to 10% had experienced physical aggression. Moreover, be...

With the nearly universal ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, children's rights have become a cornerstone of discussions in relation to human rights and human services around the world. Although the concept of children's rights is now broadly established, the meaning of this concept and its significance for policies and progr...

This article presents a study conducted among 148 men from the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Israel. A self-administered questionnaire was utilized to examine their definitions of and beliefs about wife abuse. The definitions provided by the majority of the participants were highly consistent with definitions that are accepted in the professio...

With the universal ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child societies have recognized children as human beings entitled to their own rights. This recognition calls for a thorough investigation of children's understanding of the concept of children rights at large and their own rights in particular. It further calls f...

This article examines the prevalence of violence in primary schools attended by Arab children in Israel and the relationship between such exposure and violent behavior among these children. Participants are 388 Arab children (aged 10 to 12 years) living in three localities in Israel. The research focuses on three of the child’s roles in relation to...

A self-administered questionnaire was filled out by 349 Jordanian men to examine the correlation between their patriarchal ideology and their beliefs about wife abuse. The results revealed that high percentages of Jordanian men tended to justify wife abuse, to blame women for violence against them, and to believe that women benefit from beating. In...

In this article, I will attempt to show that the patriarchal structure of Palestinian society in Israel, as in all patriarchal and traditional societies, as well as gender inequality, which is a product of that structure, is deeply rooted. Concomitantly, the patriarchal structure and gender inequality limit even the willingness of people and agenci...

This study examined whether negative group stereotypes similarly affect adolescents' reasoning about peer and spousal retribution in interpersonal situations. Findings from cognitive domain theory, school violence, family violence, and group stereotyping and prejudice literatures were used to examine this. The sample of adolescents was drawn from n...

Despite the recent increase in public and professional interest in the problem of wife beating in Arab society, in Israel, and in the rest of the Arab world, there is a serious lack of empirical research on different dimensions of the problem in those societies. This paper presents the results of a survey conducted among a systematic random sample...

First, to examine the rates of Palestinian adolescents' exposure to (i.e., witnessing and experiencing) different patterns of psychological aggression and physical violence in their families of origin; and second, to examine the correlation between this exposure and sociodemographic characteristics, parents' psychological adjustment problems, and f...

This study examined the effects of negative group stereotypes on adolescents' reasoning about peer retribution. The sample of adolescents was drawn from central and northern Israel and consisted of 2,604 Arab and Jewish students (ages 13-17; grades 7-11). A quasi-experimental, between-subject design was used, in which the students in each grade wer...

Over the past three decades, the topics of job satisfaction and burnout have become a major focus of interest in research and professional training in the field of social work. However, there is a serious lack of studies focusing on these issues in the context of Arab social workers in Israel. This paper presents the results obtained from a subsamp...

The beliefs of 356 Jordanian women about wife-beating were investigated, using a self-administered questionnaire. The participants showed a strong tendency to justify wife-beating, to believe that women benefit from violence against them, and to blame women for their beating. Furthermore, the participants expressed clear opposition to formal assist...

The article deals with the incidence of adolescent maltreatment by parents and siblings and some of its psychological effects, as revealed by a cross-sectional survey conducted among a sample of 1,640 Arab adolescents in Israel. The results revealed that a high percentage of adolescents are psychologically and physically maltreated annually. Furthe...

This article presents findings on the impact of wife abuse on marital relations, as revealed by the Second Palestinian National Survey on Violence Against Women. The study was conducted with a systematic random sample of 1,334 Palestinian women from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The results revealed that compared with their nonabused counterpar...

This article presents findings on the impact of wife abuse on marital relations, as revealed by the Second Palestinian National Survey on Violence Against Women. The study was conducted with a systematic random sample of 1,334 Palestinian women from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The results revealed that compared with their nonabused counterpar...

This article documents a study conducted among 291 Arab women from Israel using a self administered questionnaire that examined their attitudes toward varying patterns of coping with wife abuse. The findings revealed that the more the participants were characterized by negative and traditional perceptions of women, stereotyped attitudes toward gend...

This study examined how risky peer group behaviors (e.g. being aware of or witnessing drug use, students carrying weapons, or vandalism on school grounds) had on students’ experience of school victimization. This article is the second study in a two part series. The first article (Part I) was published in this journal and focused on elementary scho...

This study examined the effects of the awareness of risky peer group behaviors (e.g., drug use, students carrying weapons, or vandalism on school grounds) on students' experiences of school victimization. This is one of the few studies conducted in the Middle East that examine issues of school violence. This article (Part I) focuses on elementary s...