Determinants of individual resilience following missile attacks: A new perspective

The current study promotes a relatively new index of individual resilience, based on one's post adversity strength to vulnerability ratio. It examines the contribution of four variables to individual resilience: community and national resilience, well-being and exposure to war and terror adversities; as well as the mediating/moderating effects of sense of coherence and sense of danger. The data was collected four months after Israel's war with the Gaza Strip in 2014. The sample included 510 adult civilians, 251 who live in southern Israel and were threatened directly by massive missile fire, and 259 who live in northern Israel, which has not been under missile fire recently. Results supported the significant role of these four determinants and the two mediators as predictors and validators of individual resilience. No significant differences were found between the two samples. Results were discussed in terms of the nature of resilience as a personality attribute.