Agency and life satisfaction as protective factors among Bedouin children living under military violence in Palestine

Background: Children exposed to war, military violence and growing-up in contexts of ongoing and structural oppression have been identified to be at risk of developing psychological burdens due to cumulative exposure to traumatic events in dangerous and unsafe environments. Moving from an ecological and multi-factorial perspective on children psychological functioning and well-being, our research was aimed at testing the construct of psychological agency as a pre-determinant of life satisfaction, which, in turn, can control trauma symptoms and negative affects in a group of Bedouin children living in West Bank, occupied Palestinian territories. 13 Methods: Participants were 143 children living in villages in the Jordan Valley, West Bank,Area C (29.3% Deouq Al-Fauqa, 7.7% Fasayel, 21% Badou Ka’abneh, 42 %, Al Khan Al-Ahmer). Children’s ages ranged from 7 to 16 years (M=12.02; SD=2.05); 78 (54.5%) were girls. Participants completed the Multidimensional life satisfaction scale (MSLSS) that measures satisfaction with the school, living environment, friends and family.The Positive and negative affect scale for children (PANAS-C) detecting positive and negative emotions; the Children impact of event scale-revised (CRIES-13) measuring children symptoms of trauma (intrusion and arousal), and the Children’s hope scale (CHS), aimed at measuring sense of agency in children were administered. The statistical strategy was based on multivariate structural equation modeling (SEM). Findings: Approximately half of the interviewees reported to have been exposed to more than one event related to political and military violence in the last three months (e.g., house demolitions, exposure to military drones, tear gas, sounds of bombs). The goodness of fit indexes supported the statistical acceptance of the model, with both relative and absolute (NC=1.47; RMSEA=.041; NFI=.932; NNFI=.977; CFI=.976) indicators reporting values above the suggested thresholds. With regards to the pathways analysis, children’ sense of agency was found to have direct positive standardized effects on life satisfaction (β=.54, p <.001) and symptoms of trauma (β=.19, p < .05). Interestingly, the indirect effects of agency and life satisfaction on symptoms of trauma were larger in correspondence of intrusion (β= - .29, p < .01) and arousal (β= -.31, p < .01). In contrast, the indirect effect was small for negative affects (β= -.14, p < .05). Interpretation: The main findings of the study supported the idea that children agency might trigger life satisfaction which, in turn, is a buffer for traumatic symptoms and negative emotional responses among Bedouin children growing up in an ongoing traumatic reality. Research findings support the perspective of an active role of children in mobilizing resources for protecting and increasing their psychological well-being in contexts of prolonged and systematic violence. Dialogical and participative psycho-social interventions must be oriented on activating and potentiating sources of agency, promoting children as active social actors able to confront with traumatic experiences in contexts that tend to victimize and passivize them.