New study finds: Personal resilience protects reservists and their families

Personal resilience is a significant protective factor in regulating emotional distress and functional impairment, according to a new study by JDC-Israel and the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute. The findings show that high personal resilience acts as a "mental Iron Dome": Regular and reserve soldiers with high levels of resilience develop greater immunity against anxiety symptoms, while among spouses, high personal resilience reduces the risk of deteriorating into depression.

Conversely, the study also points to significant gaps between population groups. Low-income households and households where a person with disabilities resides were found to have lower levels of personal and community resilience, indicating that they enter periods of crisis with fewer available coping resources. In addition, exposure to uncensored media content was found to be linked to lower levels of resilience and higher levels of emotional distress.

The study, conducted by Michal Eliezer, Dr. Oren Heller and Prof. Michal Grinstein-Weiss, confirms the fact that resilience does not act as a "shield" equally in every situation. In cases of direct physical, mental or property injury, a similar mitigating effect on emotional distress was not found. It was based on longitudinal research data that enabled a comparison between the pre-war period, in February 2023, and April 2025, as well as an expanded sample that included oversampling of populations affected to a greater extent by the events of the war.

Furthermore, the study reveals a significant gap between personal resilience – namely an individual's ability to cope with stress and crisis and maintain functioning – and community resilience, meaning the community's ability to organize, support its members and face emergency situations together, as perceived by the individual. According to the researchers, personal resilience was found to be more closely linked to mental health and the ability to cope with the consequences of the war, compared to community resilience. At the same time, among residents who were evacuated from their homes, evidence was found that community resilience may mitigate the link between the evacuation experience and levels of depression.

Prof. Michal Grinstein-Weiss, director general of the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute, clarified: "The study reminds us that resilience is a significant resource in coping with crisis, but also that the ability to cope does not begin from the same starting point for everyone. The gaps we found between households with different socioeconomic characteristics emphasize that certain populations may enter a crisis with fewer coping resources from the outset. Therefore, alongside strengthening personal and community resilience, effective public policy must take into account the social and economic conditions in which individuals and families cope with crisis. The study provides an important foundation for identifying populations in need of support and for developing responses that will strengthen their coping capacity over time."

Efrat Shaprut, director general of JDC-Israel Beyond Disabilities, Resilience and Mental Health, added: "The findings of the study prove that personal and community resilience are a line of defense that we are obligated to build, strengthen and nurture proactively. Personal resilience serves as a powerful psychological safety net for service members and their families, while the community picture shows a worrisome gap that requires a response. Strong community resilience is the net that holds the individual in times of routine and emergency, and that is precisely where the immense potential for change lies."