Counseling Groups for Arab Adolescents in an Intergroup Conflict in Israel: Report of an Outcome Study

This study aimed at evaluating the impact of group counseling on Arab Israeli adolescents of different religions-Muslim, Druze, and Christian. The study involved 474 Arab secondary students from 17 Arab schools and 17 Arab novice school counselors. The dependent variables were level of anxiety, level of empathy, attitudes endorsing aggression, and self-identity (Arab, religious, and Israeli identities). A pre-post experimental-control design was employed to assess the effectiveness of the intervention. Data was analyzed in a hierarchical model (mixed) with individual being the first level and ethnicity and group (experimental or control) being the second level. Results indicated increased empathy and decreased endorsement of aggression in the Christian ethnic group, reduced anxiety and religious identity in the Muslim ethnic group, and an increased Israeli identity in both the Druze and the Christian groups.