Aug 08, 2014 06:47 AM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

Exposure to war-inflicted regions causes lasting and damaging effect on the psychological wellbeing of adolescents, according to a new study by the University of Leicester.

For the study, the researchers examined Palestinian adolescent victims of conflict in the Gaza strip in relation to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and coping strategies. They also investigated types of traumatic events endured by these adolescents to determine how they are affected by psychological disorders in warzones.

The sample comprised of 358 adolescents aged between 15 to 18 years - 158 boys (44.1 percent) and 200 girls (55.9 percent).

The researchers found that majority of the Palestinian adolescent victims develop long-lasting emotional and behavioral problems due to their exposure to mutilated bodies on TV, heavy artillery shelling and sonic sounds from jetfighters among others.

Among adolescents with anxiety disorders, females reported a greater number of PTSD symptoms than males.

"The toll on the mental health of these young people tends to be exacerbated by poverty, which is endemic in Gaza. It's a double whammy for many of them. As well as the conflict itself, they are also affected by how their parents respond, by the provision of basic needs and if there's a sense of helplessness," Professor Panos Vostanis, from the School of Psychology, said in a statement.

The study, titled "Trauma, PTSD, Anxiety and Coping Strategies among Palestinians Adolescents Exposed to War in Gaza", has been published in the Arab Journal of Psychiatry.

The fresh conflict raging in the Gaza strip for the past four weeks has claimed 1,890 Palestinians lives. UN figures estimate that 73 percent of the Palestinian victims of the military assault were civilians and 429 of them were children, Al-jazeera reports.

Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israel Defense Forces spokesman, said that Israel "would continue to maintain defensive positions from the air, from the coast and from the ground" just outside Gaza and would be prepared to return fire if the rocket strikes resume, Washington Post reports.

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