Duration of Research: 1996-2005

Funding Agency: Minerva Foundation

Researchers: 
Zvi Eisikovits (P.I.) 
Gideon Fishman (P.I.) 
Avi Griefel 
Gustavo S. Mesch 
Zeev Winstok 
Guy Enosh 
Moshe Sherer 
Orit Karnieli-Miller

Project Description:
Since 1996, 7 national surveys that described youth attitudes toward various aspects of life in Israel were conducted. The purpose of the surveys was to describe youth attitudes toward various aspects of the Israeli society and their daily behavior aspirations and expectation, and the changes they went through over the years.

The study population in the first survey has been 10,000 high school students selected randomly using a stratified random sample. However after the first survey the design changed and a national random sample of 1000 adolescents was drawn, 200 from the Arab sector and 800 from the Jewish sector. This sample although much smaller includes youth that has dropped out of school and also questions that were not approved to be asked by the ministry of education were asked in the out of school setting. The sampling strategy was again stratified, proportional and random. Each of the three regions of the country was selected, in each a proportional number of settlements and in each a proportional number of children was selected to represent the population size of the residential area.

The main topics studied were: satisfaction with the functioning of government and the various social institutions. Relations with family, school performance, abuse in school by teachers and peers, victimization, political attitude toward the peace process, patterns of social association, leisure time behavior, help seeking behavior, involvement in delinquency, and future orientation. To the main survey which had fixed questions a specific questionnaire that was designed to study specific issues like internet use, suicidal ideation, violent conduct etc. was added and with the core information and the demographic data produced a rich background for social research.

This project ended in 2005 and scientific publications have been written and published since the late 1990's.

Publications:

Sherer, Moshe & Karnieli-Miller, Orit (2007). "Intentions for Advice and Help Seeking among Jewish and Arab Youth in Israel". Youth and Society, 39(1): 33-53

Grinstein-Weiss Michal, Gideon Fishman and Zvi Eisikovits (2005) "Gender and Ethnic Differences in Formal and Informal Help Seeking Among Israeli Adolescents" (with M.). Journal of Adolescence. 28, 6:7. 65-79.

Winstok Ze'ev., Zvi Eisikovits and Gideon Fishman (2004). "Towards the development of a conflict escalation model: the case of Israeli youth". Journal of Youth and Adolescents. Vol. 33. 283-29.

Sherer Moshe & Karnieli-Miller Orit (2004). Aggression and violence among Jewish and Arab youth in Israel. International Journal of Intercultural Relations,Vol 28, 93-109.

Winstok Zeev Eisikovits Zvi & Karnieli-Miller Orit (2004). "The impact of father-to- mother aggression on the structure and content of adolescents' perceptions of themselves and their parents". Violence Against Women, Vol. 10, 1036-1055.

Mesch, Gustavo S.; Gideon Fishman and Zvi Eisikovits. (2003). "Attitudes supporting Violence and Aggressive Behavior among Adolescents in Israel: The Role of Family and Peers".18:1132-1148. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. (Equal Contribution)

Fishman Gideon, Gustavo Mesch and Zvi Eizikovits,(2001). "Variables Affecting Adolescent Victimization: Findings from a National Youth Survey." Western Criminological Review. 3 (2). [Online]. Available: http://wcr.sonoma.edu/v3n2/fishman.html. (Equal contribution)

Fishman Gideon, Michal Grinstein-Weiss and Gustavo Mesch (2000) "Political Identification of Youth-Delineating Differences between Left and Right in Israel", Journal for Sociology of Education and Socialization (ZSE), Vol. 3, 291-302.

Eusikovits Z., Mesch G.S., Fishman G. (2000), Rechtsextreme Einstellungen und gewalttatiges Verhalten unter Jugendlichen in Israel. in Hans-Peter Kuhn/Harald Uhlendorff/Lothar Krappmann (Hrsg.).Sozialisation zur Mitburgerlichkeit. Leske+ Budrich, Opladen. pp. 289-302 (Name of Article in English:"Right-wing attitudes and Violent Behavior Among Israeli Adolescents"). (Equal contribution)