Emotional and Behavioral Problems of Afghan Refugees and War-Zone Adolescents
-
Jalil Babapour-Kheiroddin
,
Farzaneh Badinloo
,
Behzad Shalchi
,
Reza Rostami
,
Fatemeh Hamzavi-Abedi
Abstract
Objective: Wars' stress and violence can have tremendous effects on children's and adolescents' health and general well being; it may result in patterns of bio-psychosocial problems. The goal of this study was to compare emotional and behavioral problems in Afghan refugees and war-zone adolescents.
Method: One hundred and eighty high school students (90 students in the refugee group and 90 in the war-zone group) in Harat were included in this research. All participants completed the Youth Self-Report (YSR). War zone and refugee adolescents were compared based on their scores on different scales of behavioral and emotional problems.
Results: War-zone adolescents scored significantly higher on Anxious/Depression, Withdrawn, Somatic Complaints, Attention Problems, and Internalizing Problems scales than refugee adolescents. In this study, no significant difference was found between the two groups on Social Problems, Thought Problems, Delinquent Behavior, Aggressive Behavior, and Externalizing scales.
Conclusion: Findings revealed that although asylum is not an ideal condition for children's and adolescents' psychological development and prosperity, it can have a protective role in comparison with war zone's circumstances. Further investigation is needed, however, to elucidate the lack of significant differences in externalizing scales among war zone and refugee adolescents
Parson ER. Understanding Children with War- Zone Traumatic Stress Exposed to the World’s Violent Environments. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy 2000; 30: 325- 340.
Compas BE. Stress and life events during childhood and adolescence. Clin Psychol Rev 1987; 7: 275-302.
Compas BE, Connor-Smith JK, Saltzman H, Thomsen AH,Wadsworth ME. Coping with stress during childhood and adolescence: problems, progress, and potential in theory and research. Psychol Bull 2001; 127: 87-127.
Hammen C,Goodman-Brown T. Self-schemas and vulnerability to specific life stress in children at risk for depression. Cognit Ther Res 1990; 14: 215-227.
Hilsman R,Garber J. A test of the cognitive diathesis-stress model of depression in children: academic stressors, attributional style, perceived competence, and control. J Pers Soc Psychol 1995; 69: 370-380.
Rudolph KD, Lambert SF, Clark AG,Kurlakowsky KD. Negotiating the transition to middle school: the role of self-regulatory processes. Child Dev 2001; 72: 929-946.
Mc Culloch A, Wiggins RD, Joshi HE,Sachdev D. Internalizing and Externalizing children’s Behavior Problems in Britain and the US: Relationship to Family Resources. Children and society 2000; 14: 368-383.
Achenbach TM, Edelbrock C. Manual for the Youth Self-Report and Profile. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry, 1987
Aseltine RH, Jr., Gore S,Gordon J. Life stress, anger and anxiety, and delinquency: an empirical test of general strain theory. J Health Soc Behav 2000; 41: 256-275.
Barrett S,Heubeck BG. Relationships between school hassles and uplifts and anxiety and conduct problems in grades 3 and 4. J Appl Dev Psychol 2000; 21: 537-554.
Jackson Y,Warren JS. Appraisal, social support, and life events: predicting outcome behavior in school-age children. Child Dev 2000; 71: 1441-1457.
Green AH. Physical abuse of children. In: Weiner J, eds. American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry textbook of child and adolescent psychiatry . Washington, DC: American Psychological Association; 1997.
Mollica RF, Poole C, Son L, Murray CC,Tor S. Effects of war trauma on Cambodian refugee adolescents' functional health and mental health status. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 1997; 36: 1098-1106.
Thabet AA, Abed Y,Vostanis P. Comorbidity of PTSD and depression among refugee children during war conflict. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2004; 45: 533-542.
Mathijssen JJ, Koot HM,Verhulst FC. Predicting change in problem behavior from child and family characteristics and stress in referred children and adolescents. Dev Psychopathol 1999; 11: 305-320.
Hammen C. Generation of stress in the course of unipolar depression. J Abnorm Psychol 1991; 100: 555-561.
Leadbeater BJ, Kuperminc GP, Blatt SJ,Hertzog C. A multivariate model of gender differences in adolescents' internalizing and externalizing problems. Dev Psychol 1999; 35: 1268-1282.
Cohen LH, Burt CE,Bjorck JP. Life stress and adjustment: Effects of life events experienced by young adolescents and their parents. Dev Psychol 1987; 23: 583-592.
Kim HK, Capaldi DM,Stoolmiller M. Depressive symptoms across adolescence and young adulthood in men: Predictions from parental and contextual risk factors. Dev Psychopathol 2003; 15: 469-495.
Dyregrov A,Raundalen M. Children and war: A review of the literature. In: Dodge C,Raundalen M, eds. War, violence, and children in Uganda. Oslo: University of Oslo Press; 1987.
Gaensbauer T, Chatoor I, Drell M, Siegel D,Zeanah CH. Traumatic loss in a one-year- old girl. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 1995; 34: 520-528.
Kuterovac G, Dyregrov A,Stuvland R. Children in war: a silent majority under stress. Br J Med Psychol 1994; 67: 363-375.
Slaby R, Stringham P. Prevention of peer and community violence: The pediatrician’s role. Am Acad Pediatrics 1994; 94:603–616.
Dyregrov A, Gupta L, Gjestad R,Mukanoheli E. Trauma exposure and psychological reactions to genocide among Rwandan children. J Trauma Stress 2000; 13: 3-21.
Qouta S, Punamنki RL,Sarraj EE. Prevalence and determinants of PTSD among Palestinian children exposed to military violence. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2003; 12: 265-272.
Stein B, Comer D, Gardner W,Kelleher K. Prospective study of displaced children's symptoms in wartime Bosnia. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 1999; 34: 464-469.
Almqvist K,Brandell-Forsberg M. Refugee children in Sweden: Post-traumatic stress disorder in Iranian preschool children exposed to organized violence. Child Abuse Negl 1997; 21: 351-366.
Awadh AM, Vance B, El-Beblawi V,Pumariega AJ. Effects of trauma of the Gulf war on Kuwaiti children. J Child Fam Stud 1998; 7: 493-498.
McCloskey LA,Southwick K. Psychosocial problems in refugee children exposed to war. Pediatrics 1996; 97: 394-397.
Cuffe SP, McCullough EL,Pumariega AJ. Comorbidity of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. J Child Fam Stud 1994; 3: 327-336.
Famularo R, Fenton T, Kinscherff R,Augustyn M. Psychiatric comorbidity in childhood post traumatic stress disorder. Child Abuse Negl 1996; 20: 953-961.
Yule W. Post-traumatic stress disorder in child survivors of shipping disasters: the sinking of the Jupiter'. Psychother Psychosom 1992; 57: 200-205.
Yule W. Post-traumatic stress disorder. Arch Dis Child 1999; 80: 107-109.
Chimienti G, Nasr JA,Khalifeh I. Children's reactions to war-related stress. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 1989; 24: 282-287.
Lewis DO. From abuse to violence: Psychophysiological consequences of maltreatment. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 1992; 31: 383-391.
Derluyn I,Broekaert E. Different perspectives on emotional and behavioural problems in unaccompanied refugee children and adolescents. Ethn Health 2007; 12: 141-162.
Kaplan J,Sadock A. Synopsis of Psychiatry. (9 th ed). Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins; 2003.
Polin DF,Breslau N. Sex differences in risk of PTSD. PTSD research Quarterly 2007;18.
Szatmari P, Offord DR,Boyle MH. Ontario Child Health Study: prevalence of attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 1989; 30: 219-223.
Joshi PT,O'Donnell DA. Consequences of child exposure to war and terrorism. Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev 2003; 6: 275-292.
Thabet AA,Vostanis P. Post traumatic stress disorder reactions in children of war: a longitudinal study. Child Abuse Negl 2000; 24: 291-298.
Weine SM, Vojvoda D, Becker DF, McGlashan TH, Hodzic E, Laub D, et al. PTSD symptoms in Bosnian refugees 1 year after resettlement in the United States. Am J Psychiatry 1998; 155: 562-564.
Minaee A. Adaptation and standardization of Child Behavior Checklist, Youth Self- Report, and Teacher’s Report Forms. Research on Exceptional Children 2006; 19: 529-558.
| Files | ||
| Issue | Vol 4 No 1 (2009) | |
| Section | Articles | |
| Keywords | ||
| Adolescent Afghanistan Mental health Refugees War | ||
| Rights and permissions | |
|
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. |
