Resilience in Displaced Populations
Abstract #23
Title: Becoming an adult in Magyarisztan Young refugees in transition: traces of vulnerability, pathways to resilience
Presenter: Laura Tarafas (Université Paris XIII Sorbonne Paris Cité, France)
Introduction: Despite being at the intersection of the busiest migration routes to the European Union, very few research focus on Hungary as a host country. The aim of this study was to identify how young adult refugees, who arrived in Hungary as unaccompanied minors, have developed their pathways to resilience.
Methods: Methods included three field studies to identify individuals participating in the research, several participating observations and internships with NGOs in Hungary. Semi-structured interviews were administered to 13 young refugees. Following the retranscription of the interviews, content was analysed based on Grounded Theory and was carried out using NVivo 11 software. The analysis identified seven main categories.
Findings: The study identified optimism, internal locus of self-control, spirituality, future-orientation, and quality social relations as key factors in finding pathways to resilience. Findings also suggest that most sources of resilience have counterproductive aspects and that resilience can not be defined in a static and one-dimensional way.
Abstract #300
Title: Adversity, resilience, and mental health trajectories in Syrian refugee and Jordanian host-community youth
Presenter: Kristin Hadfield (Dalhousie University, Canada)
Co-Authors: Mark Eggerman, Rana Dajani, Catherine Panter-Brick, Michael Ungar
Introduction: Despite its theoretical and practical importance to youth outcomes, there is limited research on patterns of resilience in refugee youth.
Methods: We collected data from 449 Syrian refugee and 371 Jordanian-host community youth participating in a humanitarian intervention. With this sample, we developed a short measure of resilience (CYRM-12) appropriate for use with war-affected, Arabic-speaking youth in the Middle East. We then used this measure to examine resilience and mental health in the Syrian refugee sample only.
Findings: In growth curve models, when the Syrian refugee youth were more resilient, they reported less stress and better mental health. In latent growth mixture models, two classes of resilience were identified: one which started high and remained steady over time and another which started relatively low and increased over time. No demographic differences predicted membership in these classes, but class membership did predict mental health. These analyses highlight the importance of resilience to understanding refugee youths’ mental health.
