Psychological Security and its Relationship to Mental Health Among a Sample of Women in East Jerusalem ةيقرشلا

: Objectives: The study aimed to identify the relationship between psychological security and mental health among women in East Jerusalem and to identify the differences in psychological security and mental health according to the economic status, and according to working with a job / without a job. Methods: The sample consisted of (204) women, and the study used the psychological security scale prepared by the researcher and the mental health scale, which was codified by Fadel Abu Hein (1996). Results: results showed: There was a positive correlation between the level of psychological security and the level of mental health, there were no statistically significant differences in the level of psychological security attributed to the place of residence, differences were found in the level of mental health due to work, the differences were in favour of women who did not work. Finally, there were significant differences in mental health among women attributable to place of residence and work. Finally, there were statistically significant differences in the level of mental health due to the differences in the level of Psychological Security. Conclusions: According to the research outcomes, more attention must be given to the lives and mental health of Palestinian people, especially women, who live in East Jerusalem. More attention and support must be given by the Palestinian authority to Palestinian people especially women in order to enhance their sense of security and resistance.


Introduction:
Security, in its broad and comprehensive sense, is still man's misguided chasm since the dawn of history and the place of his relentless and permanent quest to preserve his survival and protect his society and its material and moral achievements.Part of this concept of security and a basic requirement for the individual to reach the human society for safety and harmony and to avoid the feeling of threat and danger.Psychological security is one of the important needs for building the human personality, as its roots extend to childhood and continue until old age through different age stages, and one's security becomes threatened if exposed to a strike of pressure psychological security, which makes him have no energy at one of those stages, which may lead to psychological disturbance.Therefore, psychological security is one of the needs of the highest order for the human being.It is not achieved until the minimum needs are fulfilled, including mental health.
Personality is a multi-component, complex mobile system with many variables.Human security issues in the historical aspect played and play a leading role, given the constant human struggle with dangers that are becoming more and more day by day.And security is a complex, multi-scale, multi-faceted and multi-level system in the life support process Taking into account the fact that the development of economy, according to political elites, is possible only in stable, safe conditions, then the issues of ensuring security of a particular individual are the basis not only for health, both mental and physiological, but also for the nation welfare (Maxwell et al., 2020) The concept of psychological security emerges from the hierarchy of needs theory, where Maslow (1943) argued that when security need (categorized as lower-order need) was not met, individual may develop feeling of harm or threat, feel anxious and tense, become less satisfied with life, and may not strongly desire higher level needs.Psychological security is a state in which a person perceives that his/her environment is safe and free from harm and threat (Maslow et al., 1945a) Psychological security can be considered as an integrative characteristic of a person-subject reflecting the degree of satisfaction of the human basic needs (group of people) in safety, mental health, creating a sense of confidence and stability This is a complex of human cognitive, emotional-volitional and characterological features, his orientation and world view.The structure of psychological security supposes the subject's attitude to himself; his attitude to society; life satisfaction; social activity.All this creates a space of person protection against threats.(Kirsanov, 2020) Unfortunately, today there are good reasons to say about serious failures in the system of ensuring the national psychological health and, as a consequence, destructing national security.The reasons of such situation can be, first of all, the development and prosperity of social diseases of -drug addiction, alcoholism, gambling addiction, religious and totalitarian addictions, as well as spreading depression and suicide.Paradoxically, according to the data of scientific community, human getting into a difficult life or extreme situation in the presence of "social diseases" increases significantly (Shlyakhtunov, 2020) Today's society has a level of actual security which, according to all basic parameters from the probability of death by violence to the normal level of hygiene is higher than it used to be.Yet, people still feel the need for more security, and are consumed with tracking down various possible dangers and threats in the social realm.International conflicts, the danger of nuclear war, and environmental threats stir up feelings of fear, uncertainty, and the senselessness of existence.When a person experiences instability in his milieu, his mental health shrinks, and he is extremely sensitive to "future shock" In addition, highly industrialized societies have not succeeded in formulating an ideology "capable of satisfying man's need for meaningful existence and sense of community in the modern world, security is no longer an abstract notion; it becomes a concrete phenomenon created by interacting individuals (Zotova & Karapetyan, 2018) Most researchers consider human security as the system of human protection measures from various threats, as well as the resource of governing dangers alerting and preventing them.Security is the steadiness, the state of protection against threats that can negatively affect the system structural and functional integrity (Litvinova et al., 2020) psychological security according to Abraham Maslow (1942), it is the feeling that may arise from dangers or dangers in the physiology of the individual, as well as the feeling of helplessness in the individual in dealing with dangers or risks, related mainly to a sense of certainty and the ability to control.They believe that psychological insecurity refers to each individual's concern about potential harm and threat.It is clear that a sense of psychological security is a subjective judgment of whether an individual's environment is deterministic and controllable and a state of consciousness based on his personality traits (Wang et al., 2019) As for (Shlyakhtunov2020.) the psychological security of the individual is that it is a dynamic state of the internal balance of the event, and his position on the world around him and people within the framework of the balance of the influence of the external and internal world, and his social activity and achievement, and includes the structure of the attitude towards himself and towards society and satisfaction with life and social activity.(Evans, 2007) The importance of psychological security comes from the individual's feeling of comfort, calm and peace of mind, which comes through his first priorities, and that everyone tries to reach them, but some people believe that achieving happiness by collecting money or caring for physical adornment or any other subjective characteristics, but true happiness It is the happiness of the soul, and happiness varies according to situations and circumstances, between poverty and wealth, health and disease (Geng et al., 2021) Individuals who feel psychologically secured usually perceive that the world is emotionally secured or free from emotional harm.They usually have high confidence and trust in themselves and others, feel less anxious, and tend to be more social and actively involve themselves in relationship with other people Therefore, feeling safe has also an important influence on people's mental health.They have shown strong associations between feelings of safety and psychological wellbeing.Therefore, it is important to understand how to feel safe, and how people's homes and neighborhoods contribute to this sense of safety (Toarmina & sun, 2015) Feeling safe, stable and secure is central to your mental health and wellbeing.How safe you feel at home and in your neighborhood can influence your social habits and feeling of freedom.When we feel safe, we are able to more easily relax and recover psychologically, do the things, which comfort us, or focus on work or study we need to do to help ensure our stability.Home is where we spend a large amount of time, and so it is the most important place to feel secure and safe.Connecting with the community in which you live is also important.Taking part in social events or group exercise, and even going for a walk can add to your feelings of stability and social and mental health.Many factors can influence your sense of security, whether financially, physically, or in the workplace.Trust, having supportive company like friends or family, and job security are all strongly linked to psychological wellbeing (Evans, 2007) The mental health building is based on two main pillars, psychological reassurance and love: which form a normal life path for persons, begin from childhood and end with aging, in the sense that reassurance and love continue their march in the human soul between two stages, security in childhood and security in old age, this process takes a lifetime.Satisfying the need for security is essential for normal psychological growth and mental health in all stages of life.Many studies have shown that people who are safe are optimistic, happy, compatible with their community, creative in their work and successful in their lives.Unsafe people, on the other hand, are pessimistic.Psychological compatibility is a continuous dynamic process that deals with behavior and the environment with change and modification until there is a balance between the individual and his environment (Cooley et al., 1991) Through the theoretical presentation, the researcher believes that psychological security is one of the most important humans needs that psychologist have taken care of and has conducted many researches related to psychological security and psychological well-being, including: (Abu Yusuf Muhammad, 2021) The current research paper aims to study the impact of aggression (May 2021) on the psychological status and mental health of women and girls, as well as to identify the level of psychological well-being among women and girls, and to know if this varies according to age, marital status, residential area, exposure to violence, injury, exposure to property In that, the researcher used the mixed approach, which dealt with collecting quantitative data from a sample of (240) women and girls from all governorates of the Gaza Strip, and collecting qualitative data from five focus groups with specialists and 10 individual interviews with women and girls.The results showed: the presence of a psychological impact of aggression with a general average of (54%), and the results of the level of psychological well-being with a general average of (31%).(Overchuk et al., 2022) The aim of the study the need for security has always been one of the most important human challenges at any age.The scientific article analyses the process of acquiring psychological security, the starting point of which is the construction of a model of the world in the coordinates of the vital meanings of the individual, structuring it in a certain way according to the security level.The purpose of the academic paper lies in analyzing the features of the process of forming and correcting the psychological security of the individual.Methodology.The data from international studies, scientific publications and survey results of residents of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine have been used in the research.Results.With the aid of the questionnaire, the values of the components of the individual's psychological security have been revealed from the point of view of the inhabitants of the territories where active hostilities have been carried out, which is of particular importance for the formation of personality-oriented mechanisms of psychological work with such categories of people.According to the results of the survey conducted, the priorities of correcting the level of psychological security include forecasting life prospects and developing skills to relieve emotional stress in order to quickly and deeply recover.(Afolabi & Balogun, 2017) The purpose of this study is to examine the impacts of psychological security, emotional intelligence and self-efficacy on life satisfaction.The study was conducted among undergraduates in Nigeria where evidence of low life satisfaction has been established.Data were collected from 273 (178 males and 95 females) participants purposively selected from a southwest State in Nigeria.Results of the study showed that psychological security, β = .27,p < .05,emotional intelligence, β = .19,p < .01,and self-efficacy, β = .21,p < .01,independently predicted life satisfaction.Furthermore, the result indicated that psychological security, emotional intelligence and self-efficacy jointly predicted life satisfaction, R² = .13,F (3, 270) = 13.63,p < .01. (Salehi B, 2018) The aim of this study was to investigate the role of psychological security in predicting the psychological well-being of infertile women.Instrument & Methods: In the present descriptive-correlational research, which was conducted in 2016, 89 infertile women referred to Novin infertility center in Mashhad were selected, using available sampling.The research instruments were Shahid's Spiritual Attitude, psychological security questionnaire, and Reef's psychological well-being scale.Statistical analysis was performed, using correlation coefficient and regression analysis by SPSS 16 software.Findings: Psychological security and religion and all of their components had a positive and significant correlation with the psychological well-being (p<0.05).Analysis of mediator regression for psychological security and religion was performed by introducing psychological security in the first step and religion in the second step.In the first step, psychological security was able to predict 81% of psychological well-being.When religion entered the model as a mediator, the prediction rate reduced to 75%.Although it was a significant change, psychological security was consistently predictive of psychological well-being (p=0.001).

Research Problem:
Mental Health is an important element in the lives of individuals, Despite the acceleration of scientific research in the field of mental health, research and studies do not commensurate with the expansion of this psychological phenomenon in the Palestinian society, especially in Jerusalem.Palestinians have decreasing mental health levels due to the loss of psychological and social security, as a result of conflict and aggression, which further led to the inability of Palestinians to satisfy their psychological and economic needs, which in turn led to poor mental health.According to the Researcher's knowledge, no research have been implemented on the Psychological Security in relation to mental health among the Palestinian women in east Jerusalem.However, concerning research were done on Psychological Security, most of them were related to the psychological consequences of security itself, such as trauma and the impacts of aggressions on the mental health among the Palestinian population, accordingly, the research problem can be illustrated through the following main questions: • What is the level of Psychological Security among the study sample?
• What is the level of mental health among the study sample?
• Is there a statistically significant correlation between Psychological Security and mental health among the study sample?• Are there statistically significant differences in the level of mental health wellbeing among women due to difference in the level of Psychological Security?• Is there a statistically significant difference in the level of Psychological Security due to (place of residence, current work).
• Is there a statistically significant difference in the level of mental health due to (place of residence, current work).

Objectives:
• Identifying the levels of Psychological Security and mental health among the study sample.
• Identifying whether there is a statistically significant correlation between Psychological Security and mental health among the study sample.• Identifying whether there is a statistically significant differences in the level of mental health due to the difference in the level Psychological Security among women living in east Jerusalem.• Realizing whether there are statistically significant differences in the level of Psychological Security among women in Jerusalem due to the place of residence, current work.• Realizing whether there are statistically significant differences in the level of mental health due to the place of residence, current work.

Importance of Study:
• The importance of the current research is in the topic of the research itself, as an attempt to determine the nature of the relationship between Psychological Security and mental health among women living in Jerusalem.This will enable us to collect as much data as possible about the status of mental health wellbeing among the women of Jerusalem, in addition to determining the level of Psychological Security, concerning different dimensions (Political, Personal and Familial and Soldiers and settlers' aggressive actions).• The researcher hopes this study will serve those who are generally interested in the field of mental health and will benefit them in their clinical work.In addition, this research might draw the attention of researchers to consider the Palestinian people living in Jerusalem in their future researches, as this category of Palestinians, to some extent, can be considered a neglected category in Palestinian related researches.This consideration will lead to deeper understanding of the psychology of the Palestinian personality especially of women living in Jerusalem.

Study Concepts:
Psychological security: The researcher defines it as the deep fears and concerns of a person about him/herself in addition to his/her family concerning three main dimensions, which are personal and familial, Political and soldiers and settlers' actions (Hamdouna Osama 2017).
Psychological Security and its Relationship to Mental Health Among a Sample of Women….

Osama Hamdouna
Int. Journal of Educational and Psychological Studies, 12(6) ( 2023), 1261-1273 1265 Mental Health: It refers to the existence of a number of psychological disorders includes the following disorders: Physical symptoms, obsessive-compulsive thought, and sensitivity of interaction, depression, anxiety, aggression, phobia, paranoia and psychosis (Abu Hein, 1992).

Methodology:
Proposed Research Framework

1-Method
The descriptive and analytical method adopted in this research; as it is considered the most appropriate one for such type of studies.Descriptive method is usually used to describe characteristics of a population or phenomenon being studied.It does not answer questions about how/when/why the characteristics occurred.Rather it addresses the "what" question, what are the characteristics of the population or the situation being studied?(Shields, 2013)

2-Community
The research community includes all the Palestinian married women living in east Jerusalem.

3-Sample
To scientifically represent the research community, a convenient sample (204) women was selected from the research community.
The sample counts 204 women.The main characters of the study sample can be shown as follows:

Table (2): Study sample according to work
As shown in Table (1) there were 109 women live in Jerusalem whereas 95 women live in Azaria, also as shown in Table (2) 138 women do not work whereas 66 women do not work.

4-Tools
The instruments of data collection included: First: Psychological Security Questionnaire, designed by the researcher (Osama Hamdouna, 2017) Second: the Mental Health Scale, (SCL-90) to measure the psychological impact (psychopathological symptoms).This scale was designed by Leonard R. Derogates, Ronald, S. Lipman and Linocovi (R-SCL-90 Symptoms check list), afterward, it was standardized on the Palestinian environment by (Abu Hean, 1992).Third: Primary data questionnaire, prepared and used by the researcher to identify the socio-demographic characters of the sample.
The Psychological Security Questionnaire designed by (Hamdouna, 2017), is formed of 26 items, the highest score on the questionnaire is 78 and the lowest is 26.A high score on the scale indicates a high level of psychological insecurity, and a low one indicates a high level of Psychological Security.Levels can be interpreted according to the questionnaire keys as follows: on Table (3).Before the data collection process, the researcher examined the validity and reliability of the questionnaire, on a pilot sample composed of 40 women, the outcomes are shown as following: Validity and reliability of the Psychological Security Questionnaire:

Table (3): Psychological Security level
1.The validity of the Psychological Security Questionnaire Internal consistency: The internal consistency of the questionnaire was verified by applying it on 40 women randomly selected, and Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated between each item of the questionnaire and the total score using Statistical Program (SPSS).
The internal consistency of the scale was implemented on the first dimension (Political dimension) and the table below shows the results.
Table (4) indicates that the coefficient correlation of all the items of the first dimension is statistically significant at level (0.01, 0.05), which means that it is valid and consistent.The internal consistency of the questionnaire was implemented on the second dimension (Personal and familial dimension) and the table below shows the results: Table (5) indicates that the coefficient correlation of all the items of the second dimension is statistically significant at level (0.01, 0.05), which means that it is valid and consistent.The internal consistency of the scale was implemented on the third dimension (Settlers and Israeli soldiers' actions dimension) and the table below shows the results:

Table (5): Personal and familial dimension of Psychological Security questionnaire
Table ( 6) indicates that the coefficient correlation of all the items of the third dimension is statistically significant at level (0.01, 0.05), which means that it is valid and consistent.

Coefficient correlation
Probability I expect tragic events may occur at the hands of occupation soldiers or settlers at any moment and destroy my life and my family's .0868 ** .000 Ideas about settlers and their provocative actions impose themselves on my thinking .0851 ** .000 At any moment, fear settlers or soldiers will occupy my house .0772** .000 The practices of settlers and occupation soldiers have left me feeling insecure .0680** .000 I am worried about the loss of my family or some of its members as a result of the practices of settlers and soldiers

Reliability of the Psychological Security Questionnaire
The reliability of the questionnaire is calculated by using two methods, the split-half method and Alpha Kronbach.

• Split-half method
The reliability of the questionnaire is calculated by using the split-half method for every dimension of the questionnaire and its total score.
The table indicates a high level of reliability, which is (0.962).• Alpha Kronbach Table number (9) shows Alpha Kronbach equation of every single dimension and the total score of the questionnaire.The Mental Health Scale, (SCL-90), is designed to measure mental health (psychopathological symptoms).This scale was designed by Leonard R. Derogates, Ronald, S. Lipman and Linocovi (R-SCL-90 Symptoms checklist), afterward, this scale was standardized on the Palestinian environment by (Fadel Abu Hean, 1992), and was widely used in the Palestinian environment after calculating its validity and reliability.Concerning the validity of the scale, it ranges between (0.888** and 0.562*) for all scale dimensions.Concerning the reliability of the scale, it ranges between (0.964 and 0.718) for all dimensions.High score on the scale means Low mental health wellbeing and vice versa.(Fadel Abu Hean, 1992),

Results:
First Question: Q: What is the level of Psychological Security among the study sample?
To answer this question, the researcher used means, standard deviation and relative weight for every single dimension and the total score of the questionnaire, the results are shown in Table ( The Table ( 10) indicates a high level of psychological insecurity, both for its total score and each dimension.The political dimension scored the highest, then the settlers and Israeli soldiers' actions followed, and finally the personal and familial dimension.

Second Question: Q: What is the level of mental health (psychological disorders) among the study sample?
To answer this question, the researcher used means, standard deviation and relative weight for every single dimension and the total score of the scale and the result is shown as follows in Table ( 11) indicates a high level of psychological disorders among women, for both total score and each dimension.The obsessive compulsive thought dimension was the highest, then the physical symptoms followed, then the additional symptoms as the third, depression dimension as the fourth, after that paranoia, sensitivity of interaction followed, then anxiety, aggression, phobia and finally psychosis.Taking into account that the high score according to the scale means high level of psychological disorders, whereas a low score means low level of psychological disorders.

Third Question: Q: Is there a statistically significant correlation between Psychological Security and mental health (psychological disorders) among the study sample?
To answer this question, the researcher used Pearson correlation test, the following table shows the results According to the coefficient correlation, there is a positive statistically significant correlation between the total score of Psychological Security and the total score of psychological disorders.In addition, the table shows a positive statistically significant correlation between the total score of Psychological Security and some dimensions of psychological disorders, those dimensions include the following: physical symptoms, Obsessive-compulsives thought, Anxiety and psychosis.According to the results of T. test, there are no statistically significant differences in the level of Psychological Security among women due to the place of residence (central of east Jerusalem and Azaria).
The results show statistically significant differences in the level of Psychological Security due to current work (do not work, work), the difference is in favour of those who do not work, except for the political dimension, it is in favour of those who work.
Sixth Question: Q: Is there a statistically significant difference in the level of mental health to (place of residence, current work).
To answer this question, the researcher applied T. test.The results are shown in Table ( 15) The results of table number.(15) show statistically significant differences in the total score of mental health (psychological disorders) scale and some of its dimensions among women due to the place of residence, the difference in both the total score and the dimensions are in favour of women living in the central of east Jerusalem, those dimensions include physical symptoms, depression and paranoia.
To answer this question, the researcher applied T. test.The results are shown in table (15), The results of table number.(15) show statistically significant differences in the total score of psychological disorders scale and in all its dimensions among women due to current work, except for psychical symptoms, depression and additional symptoms.All the differences in the dimensions and the total score are in favour of women who do not work.

Conclusion
As mentioned in the research results, Palestinian women living in east Jerusalem have scored high levels either in Psychological Security or in the psychological disorders scales, knowing that the high scores mean low level of psychological security this means that those women, have a sense of low Psychological Security in their daily lives, due to the political atmosphere, personal and familial circumstances and actions of settlers and Israeli soldiers in East Jerusalem.
Therefore, it is expected for those women to also have a high level of psychological disorders as the coefficient correlation indicates a statistically positive significant correlation between the level of Psychological Security and the level of psychological disorders.This means that whenever the score of Psychological Security increases, the level of psychological disorders will increase automatically.This result is actually a perfect fit with the literature of mental health, as the feeling of security is a basic requirement for having a good mental health wellbeing.(Assalea, 2016: 28).
T. test results have supported this fact, as the results showed statistically significant differences in the total score of psychological disorders and some of its dimensions among women, due to the difference in the level of Psychological Security.This means that women who scored a high level of Psychological Security are suffering far more from psychological disorders, including obsessive compulsive thoughts, depression and symptoms of psychosis, compared to those women who scored lower in the Psychological Security questionnaire.
Regarding the differences in the level of Psychological Security among women due to the place of residence, the results of T. test showed no significant differences between women who live in central of east Jerusalem and those who live in Azaria.This means that both have about the same conditions, fears and suffering, as the two groups of women scored high scores of Psychological Security and all its dimensions.
The results also showed statistically significant differences in the level of Psychological Security among women who work and those who do not.The differences were in favor of those women who do not work; this means that those women who do not work feel more insecure compared to those who do.The researcher believes such result is logical; as the economic status plays a vital role in feeling secure, and it is significant in satisfying a person's daily needs.It is a well-known fact that satisfying such needs is significant for a person to feel secure (Osama Hamdouna, 2017).
Regarding psychological disorders results, it showed statistically significant differences in the total score of psychological disorders scale and some of its dimensions among women due to the place of residence, the differences either in the total score or in the dimensions were in favor of women living in central of East Jerusalem, those dimensions include physical symptoms, depression and paranoia.This means that women who are living in the central of East Jerusalem are suffering more from psychological disorders in general and more from physical symptoms, depression and paranoia symptoms, compared to those women who live in Azaria.According to the researcher, this can be justified, as the life of women in East Jerusalem is more stressful than Azaria; as the Israeli government poses more restrictions and difficult circumstances in the central East Jerusalem especially after Trump's declaration that unified Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
Moreover, results showed statistically significant differences in the total score of psychological disorders scale and all its dimensions among women due to current work, except for psychical symptoms, depression and additional symptoms.All differences in the dimensions and the total score were in favor of women who do not work.The researcher believes this result makes perfect sense; as it reflects the size of pressure women are exposed to in East Jerusalem, this is true if we consider the result related to the level of Psychological Security and the correlation between Psychological Security and psychological disorders, because Psychological Security refers to different kinds of pressure and stress (Maslow et al., 1945b).

Recommendations:
• According to the research outcomes, more attention must be given to the lives and mental health of Palestinian people, especially women, who live in East Jerusalem.• Psychosocial support and treatment interventions are strongly needed for Palestinian women, especially in East Jerusalem.• More attention and support must be given by the Palestinian authority to Palestinian people especially women in order to enhance their sense of security and resistance.• Qualitative researches are strongly recommended in order to deeply understand the common status of women in east Jerusalem.

Table ( 4
): Political dimension of Psychological Security questionnaire

Table ( 7
): Coefficient correlation between the total score of every dimension with the total score of the scale

Table ( 8): Split-half method of the questionnaire Dimension No. of items Coefficient correlation before modification Coefficient correlation after modification
Table shows Alpha Kronbach equation for the questionnaire Table (9) indicates the reliability score, which is (0.962); this number indicates high questionnaire reliability.Validity and reliability of the psychological disorders scale: 10): Table (11):

Table ( 12 ) :
Table (12).Security and its Relationship to Mental Health Among a Sample of Women….Coefficient correlation between every dimension of the mental health (psychological disorders) scale and the total score of Psychological Security questionnaire

Table ( 14 ) :
Means, Standard deviation and T. value of Psychological Security scale

Table ( 15 ) :
Means, Standard deviation and T. value of psychological disorders scale according to the place of residence