scholarly journals Mental Health, Alcohol and Substance Use of Refugee Youth

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jelena Vasic ◽  
Roberto Grujicic ◽  
Oliver Toskovic ◽  
Milica Pejovic Milovancevic
Keyword(s):  
Substance Use ◽  
Significant Negative Correlation ◽  
Coping Resources ◽  
Behavioral Difficulties ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
Refugee Youth ◽  
Family Separation ◽  
Psychological Difficulties ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Migration Stress

This study aims to explore the prevalence of alcohol and substance use among young refugees along with the indicators of experienced psychological difficulties. It is based on a sample of 184 children and adolescents aged 11–18 years old, residing at two refugee centers in the Republic of Serbia. Out of 184 participants, the majority was male (N = 155; 84.29%). More than a half of participants (53.3%) displayed significant symptoms of PTSD. 50% consume energy drinks, 28% use tobacco; 13% use alcohol; 4.6% use marijuana; 1.7% use LSD, amphetamines, glue, tranquilizers and cocaine. Female respondents were more frequently expressing emotional difficulties (p < 0.05) while male participants were more frequent users of alcohol or substances (p < 0.01). Younger children were more frequently expressing symptoms of hyperactivity and prosocial behavior, while they were less frequently using substances. There is also a significant negative correlation between the years of education and individual proneness to substance use. Furthermore, those who resided in a greater number of refugee camps were found to experience greater levels of emotional and behavioral difficulties and face a greater risk of physical abuse. The burden of migration increases proneness to substance use, as a consequence of scarce coping resources and the stress of adjusting. Migrants are vulnerable to substance use, since some of them have commonly witnessed and/or personally experienced pre-and post-migration stress and trauma, including loss of homes and livelihoods, violence, torture and family separation. Preventive programs need to focus on the problem of alcohol and substance use among this vulnerable population.

The Americanization of Karen Refugee Youth: Exploring Attitudes Toward and Use of Methamphetamine

2021 ◽  
pp. 0306624X2110226
Author(s):  
Brooke N. Cooley ◽  
Lisa L. Sample ◽  
Karen Rolf ◽  
Julie D. Garman
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
Refugee Youth ◽  
Methamphetamine Use ◽  
Karen Refugees ◽  
American Cities

Drug use among refugee populations is a concerning trend in many urban American cities. For instance, Omaha, Nebraska is home to an estimated 7,000 refugees from Myanmar, with at least 75% of those being Karen refugees. The purpose of this paper is to explore methamphetamine use among Karen adolescents in Omaha and to examine whether Karen youth bring their drug use habits with them from refugee camps or if they learn about drugs from their American peers. Two focus groups of Karen youth and two focus groups of Karen parents were conducted to examine methamphetamine use among this population. Findings suggest, like most youth, the Karen children were reluctant to disclose their own use of drugs, but they did see the use of methamphetamine and other drugs in their schools. It appears drug use among the Karen youth is acquired during the “Americanization” of these children in Omaha schools.

scholarly journals Women in Refugee Camps: Which Coping Resources Help Them to Adapt?

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (20) ◽  
pp. 3990 ◽  
Author(s):  
Braun-Lewensohn ◽  
Abu-Kaf ◽  
Al-Said
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Sociodemographic Factors ◽  
Coping Resources ◽  
Situational Factors ◽  
Mental Health Outcomes ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
Demographic Information ◽  
Level Of Education ◽  
War Experiences

: The present study aimed to explore the coping resources and mental health of women who have fled Syria to a neighboring European country. To that end, we examined the roles of sociodemographic factors, situational factors, and personal and community sense of coherence (SOC and ComSOC, respectively) in mental-health outcomes. One hundred and eleven refugee women aged 19–70 filled out self-reported questionnaires during August 2018 in a refugee camp in Greece. The questionnaires asked the participants for demographic information (i.e., age, level of education level, and time spent in the camp) and also addressed the situational factors of having received aid from various organizations, appraisal of danger during the war in Syria, and exposure to war experiences, as well as the coping resources of SOC and ComSOC. The results show that time spent in the camp, appraisal of danger, SOC, and ComSOC all play significant roles in predicting the variance of various mental-health outcomes. Together, those factors predict 56% of anxiety, 53% of depression, and 58% of somatization. SOC was also found to mediate the relationships between time spent in the camp and outcome variables, as well as the relationships between the appraisal of danger and the outcome variables. This indicates that SOC is crucial for good adaptation. These results will be discussed in light of the salutogenic theory.

Personality Correlates of Religiosity among Adults in the Republic of Ireland

1997 ◽  
Vol 81 (3) ◽  
pp. 827-831 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Maltby
Keyword(s):  
Women Religious ◽  
Church Attendance ◽  
Significant Negative Correlation ◽  
Eysenck Personality Questionnaire ◽  
Republic Of Ireland ◽  
Religious Attitude ◽  
Personality Correlates ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Personal Prayer ◽  
The Relationship

This study examined the relationship between measures of personal religiosity (religious attitude, frequency of personal prayer), a measure of public religiosity (church attendance), and the Abbreviated form of the Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire among 216 adults in the Republic of Ireland. A significant negative correlation was found between scores on psychoticism and on the three measures of religiosity among men (religious attitude, –.36; frequency of personal prayer, –.40; and frequency of church attendance, –.30) and among women (religious attitude, –.40; frequency of personal prayer, –.47; and frequency of church attendance, –.31). No significant relationship was found between any of the religiosity measures and the other measures contained within the Eysenck scores. A further analysis of the data suggests that the relationship for measures of public religiosity with low psychoticism is only a facet of the relationship between public and personal religiosity. These findings add to a growing body of research which locates religiosity within the psychoticism dimension of Eysenck's model of personality and adds to prior suggestions that this approach is applicable only to personal aspects of religiosity.

Happy Families?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordanna Bailkin
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Family Life ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
Sexual Morality ◽  
Family Separation ◽  
Traditional Norms ◽  
Tremendous Impact

This chapter explores the tremendous impact of refugee camps on family life. These camps served as spaces to experiment with broader definitions of “family,” while still tying certain forms of aid to traditional norms of sexual morality. Camp authorities used politics of family separation and reunification to intervene in the emotional lives of refugees, and refugees deployed British stereotypes about gender and family to their own ends. This chapter looks at how “single” refugees were disadvantaged with regard to housing, and the efforts of Ugandan Asian wives to gain entry to Britain for their “stateless” husbands. We can see both tremendous intrusions into the intimate lives of refugees, and fierce resistance to these interventions. The experience of encampment is part of the larger story of the reconstruction of family life in twentieth-century Britain.

Trauma exposure, social functioning, and common mental health disorders in Somali refugee male and female youth: An SEM analysis

2021 ◽  
pp. 002076402110377
Author(s):  
Hyojin Im ◽  
Laura ET Swan
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Substance Use ◽  
Social Functioning ◽  
Functional Impairment ◽  
Trauma Exposure ◽  
Mental Health Symptoms ◽  
Refugee Youth ◽  
Health Symptoms ◽  
Somali Refugee ◽  
Mixed Gender

Background: Refugee youth often face numerous adversities before and during forced migration. Although experiences vary across settings and subpopulations, common mental disorders are prevalent among refugee youth who are displaced in low- and middle-income countries. It is important to examine how risk factors are intricately linked and contribute to common mental health issues to inform clinical practice and social policy. Aims: This study aims to test the pathways from risk factors previously identified as determinants of Somali refugee youth mental health (i.e. trauma exposure, substance use, social functioning, aggression) to symptoms of PTSD, depression, anxiety, and somatic pains. Method: We collected survey data in 2013, using snowball sampling to recruit Somali refugee youth (15–35 years old) living in Eastleigh, Kenya. We ran three structural equation models to assess paths from trauma exposure to mental health symptoms, through psychosocial factors including substance use, aggression, and functional impairment. We first conducted this analysis with a mixed-gender sample ( N = 305) and then assessed gender differences by running one model for male participants ( n = 124) and another for female participants ( n = 181). Results: In the mixed-gender sample, trauma exposure directly predicted substance use and both directly and indirectly predicted aggression, functional impairment, and mental health symptoms. Substance use directly predicted aggression and functional impairment, and substance use both directly and indirectly predicted mental health symptoms. The split-gender models revealed gender differences, with only functional impairment directly predicting mental health symptoms in the male sample and with many significant direct and indirect pathways in the female sample. Conclusions: This study shows the role of trauma exposure, substance use, aggression, and social functioning in determining mental health outcomes among refugee youth and how CMD symptoms are differently manifested across genders in this population.

scholarly journals A socio-ecological analysis of risk, protective and promotive factors for the mental health of Burundian refugee children living in refugee camps

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Scharpf ◽  
Getrude Mkinga ◽  
Faustine Bwire Masath ◽  
Tobias Hecker
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Prosocial Behavior ◽  
Externalizing Problems ◽  
Refugee Children ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
Ptsd Symptoms ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Refugee Youth ◽  
Promotive Factors

Abstract Children and adolescents’ mental health risk and resilience arise from a complex interplay of factors on several socio-ecological levels. However, little is known about the factors that shape the mental health of refugee youth living in refugee camps close to ongoing conflict. We conducted a cross-sectional study with a representative sample of 217 Burundian refugee children aged 7–15 and their mothers residing in refugee camps in Tanzania to investigate associations between risk, protective and promotive factors from various ecological levels (individual, microsystem, exosystem), and children’s post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, internalizing and externalizing problems, and prosocial behavior. Data were collected using structured clinical interviews and analyzed using multiple regression models. Exposure to violence across all contexts and engagement coping were risk factors for PTSD symptoms and internalizing problems, while only violence by mothers seemed to increase children’s vulnerability for externalizing problems. A differential impact of violence exposures on prosocial behavior was observed. Higher-quality friendships appeared to protect youth from PTSD symptoms and externalizing problems, while they also promoted children’s prosocial behavior, just as mothers’ social support networks. Prevention and intervention approaches should integrate risk, protective and promotive factors for refugee youth’s mental health across multiple ecological contexts and take into account context-specific and adaptive responses to war and displacement.

scholarly journals Palestinian Refugee Youth in Jordan: Parental Practices, Neighborhood Cohesion and Assistance, and Adolescent Wellbeing

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 3649
Author(s):  
Ikhlas Ahmad ◽  
Judith Smetana
Keyword(s):  
Internalizing Symptoms ◽  
Psychological Control ◽  
Behavioral Control ◽  
Self Concept ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
Refugee Youth ◽  
Palestinian Refugees ◽  
Adolescent Outcomes ◽  
Physical Environments ◽  
Levels Of Support

In this study, a total of 335 Palestinian refugees (M = 15.5 years, SD = 1.05, 49% males), recruited from four United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) schools at the Al-Baqa’a and Jabal Al-Hussein refugee camps in Jordan, rated their neighborhood physical environment and neighborhood support and cohesion, separately rated their mothers’ and fathers’ parenting on several dimensions, and reported on their adjustment to these circumstances (internalizing symptoms, self-concept clarity, and norm breaking). Living in more dangerous physical environments was associated with higher levels of refugee youths’ internalizing symptoms and norm breaking, but effects were not significant when parenting was considered. Our study showed that higher levels of psychological control–disrespect (significantly for fathers and marginally for mothers) and marginally, higher levels of maternal harsh punishment were associated with more teen internalizing symptoms. In addition, fathers’ greater psychological control and lower levels of support had a marginally significant effect on teens’ greater norm breaking. For behavioral control, only mothers’ greater behavioral control was associated with refugee youths’ greater self-concept clarity but not with paternal behavioral control. Thus, fathers’ psychological control and mothers’ behavioral control had the biggest association with adolescent outcomes.

scholarly journals Prevalence and Socio-Demographic Determinants of Tobacco, Alcohol and Substance Use in City Center and Refugee Camps of Sanliurfa, Turkey

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mustafa Necmi Ilhan ◽  
Irem Ekmekci Ertek ◽  
Melih Gaffar Gozukara ◽  
Oznur Akil ◽  
Pavel Ursu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Substance Use ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
City Center

scholarly journals Challenges and Coping: Perspectives of Syrian and Iraqi Refugee Youth in Germany

2021 ◽  
pp. 074355842110560
Author(s):  
Lina Alhaddad ◽  
Robin Goodwin ◽  
Patricia Kanngiesser
Keyword(s):  
Social Services ◽  
Coping Resources ◽  
Active Engagement ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Refugee Youth ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Societal Level ◽  
Iraqi Refugee ◽  
The Individual ◽  
And Coping

Refugee youth constitute around a third of the refugee population in Germany. We studied the experiences of newly arrived Syrian and Iraqi refugee youth, aged 14 to 18 years ( N = 20), in Germany. We utilized semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis to investigate (a) the main challenges faced by youth and (b) their main coping resources to deal with these challenges. We grouped challenges into three levels: the individual level, the immediate social level, and the broader societal level. The most frequently mentioned challenges in our sample related to psychological wellbeing, school, friendship, accommodation, and discrimination. Youth reported relying on social support (friends, family, social services) and on themselves (through avoidance, persistence, activity seeking, active engagement) to cope with their challenges. Our findings provide insights into refugee youth’s experiences in Germany, encompassing the acculturative, developmental, and generational aspects of their lives and demonstrating their coping and resilience. We discuss our results in relation to the literature on refugee youth in high income countries.

Polskie cywilne duszpasterstwo prawosławne w Niemczech Zachodnich w latach 1945–1951

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 81-112
Author(s):  
Jerzy Grzybowski
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Social Conditions ◽  
West Germany ◽  
The Political ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
World War ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Ethnic Factor

The article discusses the history of the formation and activity of the Polish orthodox chaplaincy in the three western occupation zones of Germany after World War II. At that time, there were hundreds of thousands of refugees from Poland in the area. In terms of religion they constituted a mosaic. The followers of the Orthodox Church were the second largest group after the Catholics. The authorities of the Republic of Poland in exile felt obliged to provide these people with religious care. Led by Archbishop Sawa (Sowietov), priests carried out the ministry in Germany. The author has analyzed the political and social conditions in which the structures of the Polish Orthodox Church in refugee camps in West Germany were organized and functioned. The author has also presented the influence of the ethnic factor on the activity of the Polish Orthodox clergy.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document