Coping patterns, Social support, Attitudes towards divorce and

Sense of well-being among Moslem Arab divorced men and women

Amal Taha Fahoum

Abstract

Divorce rates are constantly rising in the Western world, as well as in traditional

societies. The Arab society in Israel is no exception, yet little is known about coping with

divorce in this population. The Arab society is undergoing social changes that are

revealed mainly in the growing tendency of the nuclear family to be the dominant family

structure, rather than the clan. Women's status in this society is changing as well. Divorce

in this society is stigmatized because it contradicts the value of family integrity. Divorce

is a situation characterized as astressful encounter because it changes the family structure

and the social status of its members.

Divorce may be perceived as a threat and loss, or as a challenge and controllable

situation. these situational appraisals may affect the person's coping patterns - which may

be problem focused or emotion focused, according to the cognitive theory of Lazarus and

Folkman (1984). In order to adjust to the life changes caused by divorce and to maintain

a sense of well-being, the divorced person is required to allocate internal resources, as

well as external resources based on formal and non-formal, social systems.

 The central research question was whether Arab divorced men and women differ

on coping strategies, the use of formal and informal social support, and sense of well-

being. In addition, sense of well-being has been examined in relation to the appraisal of

the situation and the participants' attitudes about divorce. Six hypotheses have been

examined:

1. Coping strategies will differ by gender: Arab men will be more problem focused and

less emotion focused than women.

2. Men's formal and informal social support will be more extensive than women's.

3. Men's sense of well-being will be higher than women's.

4. Divorced men and women who appraise the situation as a challenge and as controlled

will use the problem focused of the coping strategies and Divorced men and women who

appraise the situation as athreat or as a loss will use the emotion focused of the coping

strategies.

5. Divorced men and women who appraise the situation as a challenge will have a higher

sense of well-being, and will use the problem focused strategy of coping, more than those

who appraise the situation as a threat or as a loss.

6. Social support, both formal and informal, will be positively related to the sense of

well-being of divorced men and women.

The Sample was composed of 116 Israeli Arab participants, 45 men and 71

women, who formally divorced during the years 2000-2001. Nine men and 23 women

lived in cities, while 36 men and 48 women lived in villages.

The Instruments included:

1. A demographic questionnaire about the divorced participant, containing details about

education, age, religiosity, number of children, employment, income sources, and

several questions about the unique situation of the divorcee.

2. A questionnaire of perceived social support, developed by Zimmet, Dahlem, Zimmet,

and Fanley (1988).

3. A questionnaire of formal social support, developed by Grushka-Lazover (1999).

4. The COPE questionnaire, developed by Carver, Scheier, and Weintraub (1989).

5. The PERI questionnaire for sense of well-being (Psychiatric Epidemiology Research

Interview), developed by Dohrenwend, Levav, and Shrout (1986).

6. Attitudes about divorce, developed by Datner (1988).

7. appraisal of the divorce according to the cognitive theory of Lazarus and Folkman

(1984).

The main results were: No gender differences have been found in the use of

problem focused and emotion focused coping. Gender differences have been found in

three out of the 15 coping strategies: women have used restraint, ventilation, and religion

significantly more than men. Emotion focused coping has been found to be a function of

education/ employment status, so that lower education and/or unemployment have been

related to a greater use of emotion focused coping.

Women have been found to use formal support more than man, especially in the

cities. The use of informal social support was similar for men and women. In general

younger and more educated participants have had more extensive informal social support.

Men and women who have appraise themselves as having more control over the situation

have made a greater use of problem focused coping. In addition, women who have
appraise the situation more as a threat or as a loss have made a greater use of emotion

focused coping. Finally, a greater sense of well-being of the Moslem divorced men and

women, has been explained by a younger age, paid employment outside the home,

traditional attitudes toward divorce, and a lesser use of emotion focused coping.

The results of this study suggest that group intervention with divorced men and

women may improve their coping patterns, and may lead to an evaluation of the situation

as a challenge and as a controllable condition. This, in turn, may become a stepping stone

toward a higher sense of well-being. The results of the study have direct and indirect

implications for the status of divorced men and women in the Arab society, in various life

areas such as welfare, education, health, and the economy. Implementing supportive

programs with this young population with children will improve their present status, and

will prevent future difficulties. Changing existing prejudices toward the divorced is most

important, especially in rural areas, where modernism and the accessibility to formal

services are lower.