The Adler Research Center for Child Welfare and Protection was founded in 1997, through a generous donation by Renata and Mario A. Adler. It is headed by Prof. Zahava Solomon.
The main goals of the center -
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To initiate and perform research involving the identification and location of high risk populations, social and psychological variables promoting resiliency and effective coping with stressors, variables increasing risk levels of the child, and research engaging in the monitoring and evaluation of prevention and treatment programs.
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Promoting and initializing research programs for graduate students in the field of at-risk children.
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Promoting the exchange of information and development of means of co-operation between researchers from the Gershon H. Gordon Faculty of Social Science in Tel-Aviv University and researchers abroad.
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Creating means of communication for the exchange of knowledge amongst researchers inside the academy and those external to it.
Studies currently conducted in the Adler center:
Emotional reactions of adolescents in the shadow of political violence
and terror attacks - A study conducted by Dr. Yaira Raz-Hamama that
examines a large population of Jewish and Arab adolescents. The aim of the
study is to specifically evaluate the levels of vulnerability and resilience
of Israeli children and adolescents, as well as to identify factors that may
contribute to vulnerability and resilience.
The effect of life in the shadow of terror events on adolescents'
attitudes towards political compromise - The study examines factors
influencing adolescents' attitudes towards the solution of political
conflict. Throughout this work, various aspects related to the development
of attitudes are discussed. The aim of the study is to evaluate the effects
of terror attacks against the Jewish population in Israel during the second
Intifada on adolescents' emotional distress, as manifested in post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD). It also examines if and how the exposure to terror
events affects Jewish adolescents' readiness for political compromise (i.e.,
negotiation with the Palestinian leadership). Finally, the study tests the
hypothesis that adolescents who suffer from PTSD symptoms will express more
negative attitudes towards the solution negotiation compared to adolescents
without PTSD.
Resilience - The international resilience study, in which we have
been taking part since 2003, is still ongoing. This study gathered together
researchers from various fields (social work, medicine, psychology,
epidemiology, and others) in order to examine resilience among children and
adolescents. In order to overcome some of the problems that characterized
previous resilience studies, this study combined a variety of cultural and
methodological perspectives.
Following several joint meetings of researchers in this study, a measure was
designed, combining quantitative and qualitative methods for the assessment
of resilience among children and adolescents. This measure was administered
to hundreds of children worldwide
http://www.resilienceproject.org
