Resiliency, a Mediator between War Experience and Aggressive Behaviour

During the Lebanese and Israeli war of July 2006, Lebanese adolescents had been exposed to numerous traumatic events such as shelling, displacement, witnessing violence, injuries, and the loss of family members and friends. This said, very few studies have been performed that look at the relation between war experience and children and adolescents' aggressive behaviours. This study investigated the post traumatic issues of Lebanese adolescents after the war in 2006 and its relation to resiliency and internalising and externalising aggressive behaviours in a sample of 549 Lebanese adolescents from four main regions in Lebanon: Beirut, South Lebanon, Bekaa Valley, and North Lebanon. Resiliency was found to mediate between war traumas and internalising behaviours in a sample of Lebanese adolescents from the South Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley. More specifically, emotional reactivity was found to mediate the relation between shelling and internalising behaviour in a sample of Lebanese adolescents from the South of Lebanon, whereas sense of relatedness was found to mediate the relation between involvement in hostilities and internalising behaviours in a sample of Lebanese adolescents from the Bekaa Valley.