The Impact of Political Conflict on Youth: Assessing Long-Term Well-Being via an Event Histor - !esource "o#el Brian K.

Barber, PI E$ecutive %ummar The basic research question that the proposed research answers is &What is the impact of political conflict on outh' especiall as the transition to a#ulthoo#() The question is compelling for two reasons. First, the population of young people who experience political conflict is substantial and therefore deser es pointed attention. !econd, the extant research has not adequately answered the question of impact, lea ing us still unable to confidently recommend policies or inter ention strategies. The Need to Focus on Conflict Youth "ountless hundreds of thousands of young people across the globe experience war and other forms of iolent political conflict. #any, along with the rest of their families, are the hapless ictims of raging conflict$ some are captured and coerced or otherwise recruited into ser ing as child soldiers for long periods$ and some youth oluntarily participate in their societies% desperate struggles. &hat is the effect of intense, complex, and often enduring periods of conflict on young people' Ho* #o their e$periences *ith violent conflict shape their i#entities' impact their e#ucational an# la+or force tra,ectories' affect their famil formation an# their a+ilit to meet cultural e$pectations regar#ing a#ult responsi+ilities' an# influence their attitu#es an# orientations to*ar# violence' peace' conflict resolution' an# the social goo#( &hich of these youth could benefit from clinical inter ention' &hat (inds of policies and programs would be most effecti e for go ernments to craft in order to maximi)e the success of these future adults as they mo e forward with their li es' The Need to Expand Research These (ey questions remain largely unanswered. *espite an impressi e surge in research o er the past few decades on youth growing up amidst political conflict, we still do not (now enough about which young people continue to struggle into adulthood as a result of their conflict experiences, and why. This is so due to at least two ma+or limitations of pre ious research, both of which this proposal addresses explicitly. First, most pre ious research has restricted the scope of study to the effects of exposure to iolence on indi idual stress or psychopathology. ,esearch grounded in this narrow, &estern model of deficit and trauma regularly finds a statistical, but often wea(, correlation between political iolence exposure and heightened negati e psychological functioning. But neither violence e$posure nor in#ivi#ual ps chological functioning are a#e-uate in#e$es of the comple$ arra of economic an# social +ur#ens that *ars impose or of the range of economic' social' cultural' personal' religious' an# political #omains of functioning that #efine the lives of oung people . !econd, the data that ha e been collected to answer the fundamental question of how political conflict impacts youth typically come from small, clinical, or otherwise unrepresentati e samples of males, and they ha e been largely constricted to self-reported responses to in estigator-designed sur eys in one-time, cross-sectional snapshots. To date, no comprehensi e studies of the long-term impact of conflict on youth% li es ha e been conducted. .iven that the vast ma,orit of outh survive conflict' a soli# un#erstan#ing of the effect of their e$periences *ith political conflict / an#' criticall therefore' cre#i+le recommen#ations for intervention' a#vocac ' an# polic / can onl +e achieve# + charting the #evelopment of their lives post-conflict 0or often #uring rene*e# or

intracta+le conflict12 #oreo er, data need to be sourced with local cultural expertise, including, importantly, the perspecti es of youth themsel es. The Focus on Palestinian Youth This pro+ect will ser e as the basis for designing methodological templates to be employed in the study of young people affected by conflict in many parts of the world in the future. In so doing, it will focus first on Palestinians in the &est Ban(, .ast /erusalem, and the 0a)a !trip. Palestinians ha e been selected for this initial pro+ect because of se eral unique elements of their experience. Palestinian adolescents distinguished themsel es from all other youth populations historically by irtue of their extraordinarily high in ol ement in political conflict. In addition, their conflict has been continuous throughout their young adulthood, and, moreo er, it has become increasingly complicated gi en the factional di ide among Palestinians themsel es, resulting in essentially two politically and territorially distinct populations. Palestinians ha e also been selected because the Principal In estigator has extensi e and wellpublished experience studying this ery cohort of Palestinian youth, ha ing studied them and their culture in depth as they emerged from their intense experiences with political conflict during the first Intifada. The fin#ings ma#e + this pro,ect a+out Palestinian outh *ill +e #irectl relevant to the hun#re#s of thousan#s of outh throughout the *orl# *ho are #ealing *ith the rigors of life ami#st political conflict2 An Event History-Resource Model The proposed pro+ect would be the first-ever' representative an# comprehensive follo*-up of a cohort of outh who participated substantially in political conflict during their adolescence and young adulthood, and periodically thereafter. The pro+ect addresses the two main limitations mentioned abo e directly. The problem of model narrowness is addressed by employing an . ent 1istory-,esource theoretical framewor(. The model is inno ati e in that it integrates se eral existing theories from psychology and sociology, but also in its attention to culture and conte$t in identifying critical economic, social, and political resources, the disruption or loss of which is posited as being central in war%s impact on youth as they attempt to mo e ahead with their li es. Thus, in addition to chronicling direct experiences with political iolence, the model carefully assesses disrupted access to (ey economic resources 2e.g., food, shelter, electricity, mobility3, critical social resources 2e.g., loss of parents, siblings, extended family members, friends, and respected leaders3, and political resources 2e.g., political autonomy for the culture as a whole, the sense of political efficacy that accompanied participation in the struggle, etc.3. In so doing, the model tests the specific hypothesis that the loss 0particularl repeate# loss1 of such 3e resources *ill +e more useful in pre#icting overall functioning than violence e$posure. Furthermore, the model will identify those culturally specific resources that ha e the greatest impact. !hould this hypothesis be correct then polic recommen#ations an# intervention strategies can +e clearl targete# on re#ressing the loss of resources 3e to the culture. ata Collection This pro+ect addresses the data limitations mentioned abo e in two, sequential phases. For Phase 4, a full representative sample of 4'555 males an# females who were ages 5 to 45 in 4675 when the first Intifada began will be drawn. This sample will include the ery youth that the PI studied so intensi ely +ust after that Intifada ended as they were +ust beginning their transition to young adulthood. .ach will be inter iewed with a well- alidated method of e ent history calendaring that chronicles the (ey e ents they ha e experienced during and since their hea y in ol ement in political conflict as adolescents. By carefully mapping their patterns of critical elements of life such as education, employment, family formation, and conflict

experiences in this manner, the study can identify the arious pathways the sub+ects ha e ta(en since their early experiences with political conflict, and can specificall assess ho* patterns of loss' an# loss recover ' over time pre#ict their current *ell-+eing in the ma,or #omains of their lives. 8nli(e most past wor(, well-being will be assessed broadly to include culturall relevant #omains of social, ci ic, political, psychosocial, and psychological functioning. These domains of well-being will be assessed by sur ey during the same home isit. For Phase 9, a sub-sample of :;; of the core sample will be drawn to represent the main tra+ectories of conflict experiences and other life e ents that will be identified through rigorous statistical analyses of Phase 4 data. In this second inter iew, the respondents will be tape-recorded as they elaborate on their life history using as a guide and prompt the actual e ent history calendar they completed in Phase 4. This phase is critical in ensuring an accurate an# rich un#erstan#ing of the meaning an# salience of the 3e events an# patterns of their lives. It is one thing to (now the factual patterns of e ents or experiences, it is quite another to (now what those moments meant to the youth and how critical they were or were not in their de elopment. Importantly, all instruments to +e use# in +oth phases of the pro,ect *ill +e carefull #evelope# + the pro,ect6s team of cultural e$perts. Together, the two phases of this pro+ect will create rich, deep, and culturally-sensiti e data that will substantially extend our understanding of how experience with political conflict impacts young people as they de elop in their li es. In so doing, it has the unique ad antages of assessing long-term impact, on representati e samples of males and females with extensi e and complex experience with political iolence, using sophisticated methods that synergi)e qualitati e and quantitati e forms of data. In addition to the specific alue of the findings of the proposed pro+ect, its findings will also be used to guide future phases of the pro+ect. !pecifically, after ha ing achie ed the essential historical account of the impact of political conflict on well-being that this pro+ect will produce, future phases will assess the impact of political conflict in real time, both by following this pro+ect%s sample further, but also by studying a cohort of current Palestinian youth as they proceed through their own conflict experiences. Further, the findings and methodology will guide the in estigation of other populations of conflict youth throughout the world by the same research team. #oreo er, due to the extensi e dissemination of the findings to be made in this pro+ect, other researchers from around the world will be able to incorporate the theory and methods of this pro+ect in their own wor(. The Research Tea! The pro+ect%s Principle In estigator, *r. Brian K. Barber, is a leading expert on youth who experience political conflict. 1is boo( "Adolescents and #ar$ Ho% Youth eal %ith Political Conflict& published in 9;;6 by <xford 8ni ersity Press is the authoritati e treatment of research on this topic. 1e has further boo(s under contract with Palgra e=#ac#illan Press and 1ar ard 8ni ersity Press. >s a specialist in the study of Palestinian youth in particular, he has recei ed fellowships to do his wor( with the ,oc(efeller Bellagio Italy !tudy "enter and the !ocial !cience ,esearch "ouncil. Barber is the Founding *irector of the Center for the 'tudy of Youth and Political (iolence at the 8ni ersity of Tennessee, a unique institute that e$plicitl integrates research an# practice on conflict outh. ,ele ant to the extensi e plans for dissemination of the proposed study%s findings is the "enter%s successful "onference and #onograph series, whereby a select group of education, policy, humanitarian, nongo ernmental organi)ation, youth de elopment, and research professionals are con ened to discuss the needs of youth in specific regions of the world that ha e experienced political conflict and to generate best practices and inter entions that are most appropriate to these youths% needs. The monograph series resulting from these conferences is being published by

<xford 8ni ersity Press. *r. Barber is +oined by *r. "lea #c?eely, an associate faculty in the "enter. *r. #c?eely, most recently deputy director of the "enter for >dolescent 1ealth at the /ohns 1op(ins Bloomberg !chool of Public 1ealth, has considerable expertise in conducting and analy)ing data from large-scale studies of international populations of youth. >dditionally, the team is buttressed by highly experienced and respected Palestinian scholars and practitioners, as well as leading experts in the methods of data collection and analysis that will be employed in the pro+ect. Capacity )uildin* >part from the academic benefits to theory, methods, and findings that the study will pro ide, it will also build important local research capacit . !pecifically, data will be collected by a well-experienced team of 49; nati e field wor(ers. This pro+ect will train the wor(ers carefully in the new inter iew methods employed in both phases, and will thereby expand local expertise with inno ati e methods that can be employed in their future research wor(. In turn, the cultural expertise of the field wor(ers will enrich and enhance the method of data collection and will thereby build the cross-cultural capacit of other researchers who adopt the method but heretofore ha e been guided largely by the narrower trauma paradigm. Contri+utions to Policy and Practice Beyond its important implications for research theory and method, the focus of the proposed study on resources and its attention to cultural perspecti es of them has the potential to contribute significantly to a#vocac ' polic an# practice. The proposed research will identify the type and timing of resource loss that has the largest negati e impact on young people, as well as the most sustaining resources for this culture during and after political conflict. ,estoring and shoring up those resources should be a funding, policy and programmatic priority, one that has potentially greater impact on well-being than the current emphasis on treating indi iduals for psychological effects. To this end, the pro+ect includes an e$plicit focus on #issemination of the stu# 6s fin#ings ia three seminars patterned after the approach described abo e to bridge research and practice. These seminars @ to be held in /erusalem, &ashington, *", and Aurich @ will con ene research and practice experts from the #iddle .ast, the 8.!., and .urope, respecti ely. In order to ma(e them maximally accessible, materials describing the findings of the study will be written +ointly with researchers and +ournalists or technical writers in .nglish and >rabic. The research team will also collaborate with the Foundation to translate the materials into 0erman to facilitate their dissemination in !wit)erland. Fit %ith the ,aco+s Foundation The proposed pro+ect is closely aligned with the Foundation%s focus on the integration of interdisciplinary research instruments with effecti e inter entions to achie e a lasting impact on the li es of youth. Through the implementation of inno ati e and integrati e theory and research methods and through the wide use of arious dissemination tools the pro+ect will ha e longterm implications on outh #evelopment theor ' research #esign' polic an# practice. Two main aspects of the proposed pro+ect ma(e it particularly suitable for funding from the /acobs Foundation. First, the central ob+ecti es of the proposed pro+ect #irectl challenge tra#itional mo#els of un#erstan#ing outh functioning in #ifficult conte$ts . !pecifically, the intent of the pro+ectBto analy)e economic, political, and social components of war, and to assess well-being comprehensi ely with explicit attention to cultural prioritiesBextends significantly past the narrower, trauma and deficit models that continue to predominate in funded pro+ects. ,elatedly, large 8.!. funding agencies, such as the 8! ?ational Institute of "hild 1ealth and 1uman *e elopment, are reluctant to fund proposals that are as metho#ologicall innovative as is the proposed pro+ect, particularly concerning its

implementation of the . ent 1istory "alendar and the follow-up Cife 1istory Inter iew methods that ha e heretofore not been used on a population of conflict youth. The no elty of these methods, the endorsement of the alue of the oices of the participants, and the role of culture in generating meaning are pioneering and non-traditional relati e to what larger agencies typically fund.