Perceptions of the societal image of Muslim Arab divorced men and women in Israel

This study examined perceptions by divorced Muslim men and women citizens of Israel of their society's image of divorced persons and the associations between these perceptions and their adjustment to their divorce. The study is based on the reports of a heterogeneous sample of 312 divorced men and women in this community. Findings show that, on the whole, the participants perceive their society as stigmatizing divorced women as bad parents and spouses more than divorced men, that divorced women perceive greater societal stigmatization than divorced men, and that adjustment to divorce was directly related to individuals' perceptions of the societal image of the divorced person of their own sex.