NCJ Number
225089
Journal
Journal of Family Violence Volume: 23 Issue: 7 Dated: October 2008 Pages: 549-555
Date Published
October 2008
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This study examined psychological and marital risk factors of immigrant Former Soviet Union (FSU) couples in Israel.
Abstract
Findings show that spousal violence is more prevalent in the general population than the welfare population, among more highly educated immigrants than those with less education, and appears more among those reporting a greater cultural-familial gap between their country of origin and Israel. One possible explanation is that immigrants to Israel experience losses, gaps, and difficulties in their adjustment to their new country. Furthermore, more violence was reported regarding men towards women rather women towards men. Spousal violence is more prevalent in the general immigrant population than in the welfare immigrant population. This finding is contrary to the widely held assumption that symptoms of violence tend to be more widespread in disadvantaged populations. A possible explanation for this finding may be that violence is ameliorated in the disadvantaged population thanks to the intervention these immigrants receive in government-funded social welfare services. Another unexpected finding was that the incidences of spousal violence were found to be higher among more highly educated immigrants when compared to the less educated. The study emphasized the need to strengthen the connections between the immigrant population to the local population in general, and to professionals in specific. Israel has an ideology of absorbing Jews from all over the world, and it is important to implement this ideology by providing top-notch social welfare services and professional intervention in order to moderate the phenomenon of spousal violence. One of the strategies for accomplishing this would be to apply the methods used by the welfare services in combating violence to the entire population. Data were collected from 322 participants who immigrated to Israel between 1990 and 2001; of these, 121 were drawn from the social welfare population while 201 were from the general population. Tables, references