Child Psychological Adjustment to War and Displacement: A Discriminant Analysis of Resilience and Trauma in Syrian Refugee Children

Alessandro Pepe,Guido Veronese,Francesca Giordano

doi:10.1007/s10826-021-02067-2

Alessandro Pepe, Guido Veronese + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-021-02067-2

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Abstract

The ongoing war in Syria has led to the displacement of 12 million people since 2011, with minors representing 40% of all refugees. Syrian children living in refugee camps are at risk of developing a wide range of mental health problems, given their previous and ongoing exposure to episodes of violence, disruption of family ties, and discontinuous access to education. In this study, we drew on the salutogenic paradigm to investigate whether, and to what extent, high/low levels of resilience were associated with other indicators of mental health and post-traumatic response in Syrian children living in refugee camps. The sample was composed of 311 Syrian children living in Jordanian refugee camps as a consequence of the war in Syria. We administered quantitative self-report measures to assess participants’ exposure to trauma, individual levels of resilience, and mental health, performing discriminant analysis to examine the association between resilience and trauma/mental health. Syrian children living in Jordanian refugee camps reported intense exposure to traumatic events. The linear discriminant equation supported adoption of the function [Wilk’s Lambda (Λ = 0.827)]: lower levels of resilience were associated with trauma symptoms (re-experiencing, avoidance, and hyperarousal) and emotional problems, while higher levels of resilience were associated with pro-social behaviours. The findings of the present study suggest that resilience acts as a protective factor buffering children from the consequences of trauma and challenging life conditions. We discuss the implications for interventions designed to promote the wellbeing and mental health of children living in refugee camps.

Highlights

IntroductionThreatening events can induce higher and even incapacitating levels of arousal, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress in refugee children
The discriminant analysis suggested that the derived function comprises the following components: prosocial behaviors, emotional problems, and trauma symptoms
We found that a leading characteristic of the high resilience group was the capacity to establish good social relationships in contexts typically characterized by the disruption of social networks, poor community ties, and an increased sense of social isolation (Juan et al, 2018; Giordano et al, 2019; Veronese et al, 2017b; Veronese et al, 2018)

Summary

Introduction

Threatening events can induce higher and even incapacitating levels of arousal, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress in refugee children. Calamities such as getting separated from family members or losing their home and community ties can trigger a sense of sadness, grief, and depression (Bean et al, 2007). An 11% rate of PTSD has been recorded among child and adolescent refugees in resettlement countries, alongside a 5% rate of depression (Fazel et al, 2005). Parental psychological functioning was associated with a global measure of mental distress, emotional issues, and conduct problems in a group of 263 Syrian child refugees who had been resettled in Turkey (Eruyar et al, 2018).

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