Parental competence during war: Aspects of resilience and moral injury among body handlers and civilians in Israel.

OBJECTIVE

This study examined how traumatic stress symptoms (TSS) influence parental competence (PC) among Israeli civilian parents and reservist body handlers during the Gaza war, and explored two psychological mechanisms, moral injury and psychospiritual resilience, that may exacerbate or buffer these effects.

METHOD: Three hundred seventeen parents (137 body handlers, 180 civilians) completed validated measures of TSS, moral injury, psychospiritual resilience, and PC.

RESULTS

Structural equation modeling revealed that TSS was strongly associated with reduced PC in both groups. However, group differences emerged in the mediating pathways. Among body handlers, moral injury significantly mediated the TSS-PC association, indicating that disruptions in moral integrity and guilt-related processes were central in shaping parental functioning. In contrast, psychospiritual resilience served as a protective mediator only among civilians, mitigating the negative impact of TSS on PC through meaning making, faith, and psychological flexibility. In contrast to expectations, the direct effect of TSS on PC was stronger among civilians than body handlers, suggesting a distinct adaptive pattern within the latter group despite extreme exposure.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings highlight the need for tailored interventions addressing moral repair in highly exposed professionals and strengthening psychospiritual resources among civilian parents. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).