THE RISE OF EMOTIONAL DYSREGULATION AMONG STUDENTS IN ISRAEL:PRESENTING THE PROBLEM AND THE EXISTING KNOWLEDGE GAP

Abstract

Israel's education system faces a marked rise in emotional dysregulation among students, significantly exacerbated by the psychosocial consequences of two defining crises: the COVID-19 pandemic, including the closure of educational institutions, disruption of routine, and social isolation, and the events of October 7, 2023, and the ongoing war, which gave rise to anxiety, trauma, and sustained security uncertainty. Data from the National Authority for Measurement and Evaluation in Education (RAMA, 2024) indicate that only 58% of students feel their teachers listen to and care for them; 36% report difficulty controlling themselves when angry. Emotional regulation, the ability to manage, understand, and adaptively control emotions, is a central factor in academic, social, and psychological success. Nevertheless, a significant research gap exists in the Israeli context: no systematic study has examined the psychological mechanisms influencing emotional regulation development among elementary school students, particularly the role of relationships with significant adult figures, against the backdrop of recent crises. This article presents the scope of the problem, reviews the relevant literature, and identifies the existing knowledge gap.