Families under war: Stresses and strains of Israeli families during the Gulf war

Abstract This study assessed sources of stress, perception of the situation, and effect of the war upon Israeli families during the first week of the Gulf war. Sixty six families were randomly selected and were telephone interviewed using a semi‐structured questionnaire. Responses to questions regarding the stresses and strains of war and their effect on the family are described. Four sources of stress seemed to affect families: Existential fear, ambiguity, war‐related hardships, and intrafamily strain. Families perceived the situation along a continuum ranging from catastrophic, through difficult but optimistic, to bearable. The effect of the war situation on families was assessed by respondents as positive, neutral or negative. The findings are discussed in terms of their relation to four types of family response in a shared stressful situation.