This study explored how Jewish Holocaust survivors had coped with various stress situations in their lives by identifying and articulating what were facilitative coping tactics. The goal of the study was to understand their lifelong coping process and to contribute to the field of counselling psychology by providing information on what helps survivors of the Holocaust be successful copers over a lifetime. A comprehensive category system was developed for a wide range of successful long term coping strategies. The research method involved extensive interviews with eleven Jewish Holocaust survivors who were considered to be well-functioning. Flanagan's (1954) Critical Incident Technique was chosen because it provided a structure to the information gathering and allows for a rigorous validation process. Participant's interviews were tape recorded and later transcribed verbatum. A total of 1,416 critical incidents extracted were identified. Twenty-three categories emerged in the critical incident data analysis as follows: (1) seeking social support, (2) reflecting, (3) positive reappraising, (4) emulating, (5) Jewish identity, (6) helping others, (7) enduring hardship, (8) participating in enjoyable activities, (9) accepting reality, (10) planful problem solving, (11) bearing witness, (12) affective self-controlling, (13) planful physical escaping from life threatening situations, (14) distancing, (15) initiating action, (16) believing in lucky fate, (17) belonging, (18) understanding context, (19) being responsible/accountable for self and others, (20) confronting, (21) believing in the value of education, (22) hope in Israel, and (23) believing in the supernatural. The validity and reliability of the categories were ensured through: (a) the use of an independent rater, (b) the use of an expert rater, (c) participants' cross-checking, (d) exhaustiveness, (e) participation rate, and (f) theoretical agreement in the research literature to related findings. The findings of this study contribute to the field of counselling psychology by providing a category system with descriptions of what constitute successful coping strategies for Holocaust survivors. Results of the study reveal how Jewish identity issues are intertwined in the coping process. Theoretical and clinical implications of the present study are explored, and suggestions for future research are discussed.

This study explored how Jewish Holocaust survivors had coped with various stress situations in their lives by identifying and articulating what were facilitative coping tactics. The goal of the study was to understand their lifelong coping process and to contribute to the field of counselling psychology by providing information on what helps survivors of the Holocaust be successful copers over a lifetime. A comprehensive category system was developed for a wide range of successful long term coping strategies. The research method involved extensive interviews with eleven Jewish Holocaust survivors who were considered to be well-functioning. Flanagan's (1954) Critical Incident Technique was chosen because it provided a structure to the information gathering and allows for a rigorous validation process. Participant's interviews were tape recorded and later transcribed verbatum. A total of 1,416 critical incidents extracted were identified. Twenty-three categories emerged in the critical incident data analysis as follows: (1) seeking social support, (2) reflecting, (3) positive reappraising, (4) emulating, (5) Jewish identity, (6) helping others, (7) enduring hardship, (8) participating in enjoyable activities, (9) accepting reality, (10) planful problem solving, (11) bearing witness, (12) affective self-controlling, (13) planful physical escaping from life threatening situations, (14) distancing, (15) initiating action, (16) believing in lucky fate, (17) belonging, (18) understanding context, (19) being responsible/accountable for self and others, (20) confronting, (21) believing in the value of education, (22) hope in Israel, and (23) believing in the supernatural. The validity and reliability of the categories were ensured through: (a) the use of an independent rater, (b) the use of an expert rater, (c) participants' cross-checking, (d) exhaustiveness, (e) participation rate, and (f) theoretical agreement in the research literature to related findings. The findings of this study contribute to the field of counselling psychology by providing a category system with descriptions of what constitute successful coping strategies for Holocaust survivors. Results of the study reveal how Jewish identity issues are intertwined in the coping process. Theoretical and clinical implications of the present study are explored, and suggestions for future research are discussed. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

This research was conducted to determine the extent to which Jewish adults perceive themselves ethnically and/or religiously Jewish and how a range of personal characteristics, attitudes and practices related to the importance of ethnic and religious identity. A random sample of 540 individuals was taken from the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver's mailing list comprised of Jewish individuals in the Lower Mainland that identify with the Jewish community This sample completed a survey on the importance of Jewish ethnic and religious identity. There were significantly more people who felt it was very important or somewhat important to be ethnically Jewish than felt it was very important or somewhat important to be religiously Jewish: 92.1% versus 59.8%. Three hypotheses were tested to examine the relationship between the importance of ethnic and religious identity (dependent variables) and the importance of ethnic and religious identity and certain personal characteristics, attitudes and practices. Cross-tabulations and analysis of variance were done to test these hypotheses. A fourth hypothesis was tested with logistic regression which was used to build a model to predict whether a subject would rate "ethnic" Jewishness as "very important" vs. "not very important" and "religious" Jewishness as "important" or "unimportant" based on a set of predictor variables. The findings indicate a significant relationship between the two dependent variables, very few personal characteristics were related to the dependent variables, and a significant relationship was found between all the attitudes and the majority of the practices and the two dependent variables. The most important predictor of whether a subject would rate "ethnic" Jewishness as "very important" or "not very important" was the global attitude score. The most important predictors of whether a subject would rate "religious" Jewishness as "important" or "unimportant" were global attitude and attitudes and practices reported as important because they are divinely ordained. When global attitudes were taken out of the logistic regression model due to their high degree of overlap with the global practices, the most important predictor of whether a subject would rate "ethnic" Jewishness as "very important" or "not very important" were the global practices, proportion of Jewish friends, and attitudes and practices reported as important because they provide a connection to the Jewish people. The most important predictors for whether a subject would rate" religious" Jewishness as "important" or "unimportant" were marital status, global practice, denominational affiliation and attitudes and practices reported as important because they are divinely ordained. The individual's sense of identity and the factors that contribute to that identity are important aspects in the psychological functioning of members of ethnic, racial and religious minority groups. The information gathered from this study aids those in the helping profession in understanding the important and unique role religion and ethnicity plays in individual lives as well as identifying ethnic and religious priorities for community services.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the interrelationships between marital adjustment, group commitment, religiosity and attitude to divorce in the Jewish group. It amounted to a within group empirical study of the Jewish community of Cape Town. Research, to date, has focused on marital stability where researchers have found that Jews have lower divorce rates than the general population. The present study attempted to assess the psycho-social outcomes of group commitment in the form of marital adjustment, thus bridging the gap between marital quality and marital stability in the Jewish group. On a wider level, the purpose of this research was to assess whether a social structural framework, utilizing the concept of social integration, is a perspective that can be used in explaining variations in marital adjustment. The following were the findings of the research : Religiosity was correlated to group commitment but not to marital adjustment; group commitment was correlated to marital adjustment; a negative attitude to divorce was not correlated to marital adjustment, group commitment or religiosity.

This research was conducted to determine the extent to which Jewish adults perceive themselves ethnically and/or religiously Jewish and how a range of personal characteristics, attitudes and practices related to the importance of ethnic and religious identity. A random sample of 540 individuals was taken from the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver's mailing list comprised of Jewish individuals in the Lower Mainland that identify with the Jewish community This sample completed a survey on the importance of Jewish ethnic and religious identity. There were significantly more people who felt it was very important or somewhat important to be ethnically Jewish than felt it was very important or somewhat important to be religiously Jewish: 92.1% versus 59.8%. Three hypotheses were tested to examine the relationship between the importance of ethnic and religious identity (dependent variables) and the importance of ethnic and religious identity and certain personal characteristics, attitudes and practices. Cross-tabulations and analysis of variance were done to test these hypotheses. A fourth hypothesis was tested with logistic regression which was used to build a model to predict whether a subject would rate "ethnic" Jewishness as "very important" vs. "not very important" and "religious" Jewishness as "important" or "unimportant" based on a set of predictor variables. The findings indicate a significant relationship between the two dependent variables, very few personal characteristics were related to the dependent variables, and a significant relationship was found between all the attitudes and the majority of the practices and the two dependent variables. The most important predictor of whether a subject would rate "ethnic" Jewishness as "very important" or "not very important" was the global attitude score. The most important predictors of whether a subject would rate "religious" Jewishness as "important" or "unimportant" were global attitude and attitudes and practices reported as important because they are divinely ordained. When global attitudes were taken out of the logistic regression model due to their high degree of overlap with the global practices, the most important predictor of whether a subject would rate "ethnic" Jewishness as "very important" or "not very important" were the global practices, proportion of Jewish friends, and attitudes and practices reported as important because they provide a connection to the Jewish people. The most important predictors for whether a subject would rate" religious" Jewishness as "important" or "unimportant" were marital status, global practice, denominational affiliation and attitudes and practices reported as important because they are divinely ordained. The individual's sense of identity and the factors that contribute to that identity are important aspects in the psychological functioning of members of ethnic, racial and religious minority groups. The information gathered from this study aids those in the helping profession in understanding the important and unique role religion and ethnicity plays in individual lives as well as identifying ethnic and religious priorities for community services. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

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