Resilience and Learning in Conflict Zones: The Impact of Stress and School Environments on Cognitive and Emotional Development.

• In Event: A focus on wellbeing and resilience: Teacher and student experiences in challenging contexts

Proposal

Children in conflict zones such as Gaza and the West Bank face unique challenges that significantly affect their mental health and cognitive development. The chronic exposure to political violence or war and the resulting stress can have profound impacts on their well-being and cognitive executive functions, which are critical for academic and social success. This research seeks to unravel the complex interplay of stress, psychosocial factors and executive functions in these children using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to better understand how schools and other factors can serve as protective environments that enhance resilience, well-being and ultimately preserve their capacity to learn.

Research Objectives: The primary objective of this study is to utilize SEM to model the relationships between stress, resilience, well-being, executive functions, and academic performance in children affected by political violence or war. Specifically, the study aims to:
1. Identify the direct and indirect pathways through which stress impacts executive functions and well-being.
2. Examine the role of resilience and school experiences as mediators or moderators in these relationships.
3. Assess the differential impacts of these factors in children from Gaza versus the West Bank.

Methodology: The study is grounded in a vulnerability-stress model within developmental psychopathology, adapted to the educational context. The model posits that stress directly affects executive functions and well-being, while resilience and school experiences may buffer these effects. The study involves 121 boys aged 9 to 11 years, enrolled in UNRWA-administered schools in Gaza and the West Bank. Data were collected on psychosocial factors (perceived stress, resilience, well-being, traumatic events, school experiences), executive functions (inhibitory control, working memory, cognitive flexibility), and cortisol awaking response (CAR). Tools:
1. Stress
1.2 Cortisol awaking response (CAR) over 3 days.
1.3 Perceived Stress Scale for Children (White, 2014);
2. Well-being
2.2 We used an Arabic questionnaire that has been adapted and validated for several years in the Gaza Strip (Joma, Dukhan, & Arvisais, 2021). It covers four different dimensions of the concept of well-being (physical, social, academic, psychological).
2.3 This questionnaire also identifies exposure to traumatic events in the past three months;
3. Resilience
3.2 Child and Youth Resilience Measure (Ungar, 2008);
4. Executive Functions (Participants' executive functions were assessed using three tests. These tasks were computerized on the interface of the online software Gorilla Experiment Builder);
4.2 Victoria Stroop Test (Kettani et al., 2020);
4.3 N-Back test (Kirchner, 1958);
4.4 Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (Monchi et al., 2001).

The analysis employs Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to explore the intricate relationships between various psychological and physiological constructs, including resilience, well-being, perceived stress, CAR, and cognitive performance in tasks such as the Stroop and n-back tasks. SEM was employed to test the hypothesized relationships among these variables.

Key findings indicate that resilience has a strong positive effect on well-being, with higher resilience associated with higher well-being. Cortisol levels are positively related to cognitive performance in tasks like the 1-back and 2-back, suggesting cortisol may facilitate cognitive functioning. However, performance in the Stroop task negatively impacts resilience, potentially linking challenges in inhibitory control with lower resilience. Additionally, a negative relationship between traumatic events and cortisol levels suggests that exposure to trauma may lower cortisol over time.

Psychological factors also play a significant role, with perseverative errors linked to poorer academic performance and resilience, indicating that cognitive rigidity may undermine success and the ability to recover from adversity. Constructs related to the school environment and teacher perceptions are positively associated with both academic performance and resilience, highlighting the importance of a supportive educational environment.

Cortisol demonstrates a dual role, enhancing cognitive performance in certain tasks while being negatively influenced by traumatic experiences, reflecting the complex interplay between stress hormones and cognitive function. Moreover, perceived stress is negatively correlated with well-being, emphasizing the need for effective stress management to maintain mental health. The model fit indices suggest that the overall model has a moderate fit, capturing some but not all variability in the data.

In summary, the analysis reveals a complex interplay between cognitive performance, resilience, stress, and well-being, suggesting that resilience and a positive school environment boost well-being and academic success, while stress and cognitive rigidity may have detrimental effects. Cortisol emerges as both a stress marker and a cognitive performance enhancer, depending on the context.

Author

• Olivier Arvisais, Université du Québec à Montréal