Psychological resilience among Palestinian school students: an exploratory study in the West Bank

The purpose of this study was to explore the factors in which the individual skills, family support and contextual components contribute in the psychological resilience among Palestinian school students who are living under adversity in the West Bank. The participants comprised 537 students (50% male and 50% female) in the 8th and 9th grade who live in urban and rural areas of the northern West Bank. The researcher used the CYRM-28 scale to measure the psychological resilience and their factors (Individual Skills, Family Support, and Contextual Components). The results revealed that the mean of resilience over the Palestinian schools was quite high being significantly higher for older male students living in villages rather than cities. In order to improve resilience on Palestinian children, contextual components (spiritual, educational and cultural) and family support (physical and psychological) are key areas that could be fostered through social and educational policies.