Health Communication
Volume 34, Issue 13, 2019, Pages 1585-1596

The Functionality of Communal Coping in Chronic Uncertainty Environments: The Context of Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon (Article)

Afifi T.D.* , Afifi W.A. , Acevedo Callejas M. , Shahnazi A. , White A. , Nimah N.
  • a Department of Communication Arts and Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, United States
  • b Department of Communication Arts and Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, United States
  • c Department of Communication Arts and Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, United States
  • d Department of Communication Arts and Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, United States
  • e Department of Communication Arts and Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, United States
  • f Department of Communication Arts and Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, United States

Abstract

Most research suggests that communal coping, where a group of people own and act upon a shared stressor or uncertainty together, enhances mental health and fosters coping efficacy. The majority of this research, however, has been conducted in the United States in contexts where stress and uncertainty are relatively short-lived and with samples that are economically secure and moderately to highly educated. The purpose of this study was to understand how socio-emotional conditions, such as exposure to trauma and interparental conflict, influence the functionality of communal coping for adolescents in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, where chronic uncertainty is normative. One hundred eighty-five Palestinian adolescents (M age = 15.75) residing in two refugee camps in Beirut, Lebanon completed a cross-sectional survey. The results showed that communal coping with immediate family members was only beneficial for adolescents’ mental health and hopelessness when their parents had moderate to little conflict and not high levels of conflict. Similarly, when adolescents had experienced trauma, engaging in high levels of communal coping accentuated, as opposed to buffered, the harmful effects of uncertainty on mental health. © 2018, © 2018 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

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Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85053668810&doi=10.1080%2f10410236.2018.1514682&partnerID=40&md5=c90004b3abfc6045a3fb44d2f7ec869f
DOI: 10.1080/10410236.2018.1514682
ISSN: 10410236
Cited by: 3
Original Language: English