TY - JOUR
T1 - Age and environmental factors predict psychological symptoms in adolescent refugees during the initial post-resettlement phase
AU - Hocking, Debbie C.
AU - Sundram, Suresh
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge the support of the Department of Education and Training, State Government of Victoria.
Funding Information:
The research team would like to thank the participants and their families, and acknowledge the assistance of the welfare and administrative staff, and multicultural education aides at the Western English Language School, particularly Tania Halea, Smara Piskopos, Evie Trimmis and Lucas Jordan. The authors acknowledge the support of the Department of Education and Training, State Government of Victoria.
Funding Information:
This project was funded by Cabrini Outreach, the Collier Charitable Fund and the Phyllis Connor Memorial Trust. The funding bodies had no role in any part of the study design, data collection, or drafting of the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).
PY - 2022/12
Y1 - 2022/12
N2 - Background: Adolescent refugees are at high risk of developing mental disorders but are often not recognised early. This pilot study aimed to identify early putative risk factors associated with psychological symptoms in newly resettled refugee youth at potential risk of subsequently developing mental disorders. Methods: Newly resettled adolescent refugees were recruited through English language schools in Melbourne, Australia. Participants were assessed with the MINI-Kid, Achenbach Youth Self-Report and Reaction of Adolescents to Traumatic Stress scale. Parents completed a mental health screening separately. Linear regression models were used to identify predictive factors associated with symptom ratings. Results: Seventy-eight, ostensibly well, refugee adolescents (mean age = 15.0 ± 1.6 years) resettled in Australia for 6.1 ± 4.2 months were assessed. Levels of anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress symptoms were considerably lower than in mainstream population data. Prior displacement was a key determinant of symptomatology. Transitory displacement, irrespective of duration, was associated with elevated scores for depression (t (47) = -4.05, p < 0.0001), avoidance/numbing (U = 466, p <.05) and total trauma (U = 506, p <.05) symptoms. Older age was a unique predictor of depression (F (1,74) = 8.98, p <.01), internalising (F(1,74) = 6.28, p <.05) and total (F(1,74) = 4.10, p <.05) symptoms, whilst parental depression symptoms (t = 2.01, p < 0.05), displacement (t = 3.35, p < 0.01) and, expectedly, trauma exposure (t = 3.94, p < 0.001) were unique predictors of post-traumatic stress symptoms. Conclusions: Displaced status, older age, and parental symptoms predicted psychological symptoms in adolescent refugees in an initial relatively asymptomatic post-resettlement phase. The early recognition of at-risk refugee youth may provide an opportunity for preventative mental health interventions.
AB - Background: Adolescent refugees are at high risk of developing mental disorders but are often not recognised early. This pilot study aimed to identify early putative risk factors associated with psychological symptoms in newly resettled refugee youth at potential risk of subsequently developing mental disorders. Methods: Newly resettled adolescent refugees were recruited through English language schools in Melbourne, Australia. Participants were assessed with the MINI-Kid, Achenbach Youth Self-Report and Reaction of Adolescents to Traumatic Stress scale. Parents completed a mental health screening separately. Linear regression models were used to identify predictive factors associated with symptom ratings. Results: Seventy-eight, ostensibly well, refugee adolescents (mean age = 15.0 ± 1.6 years) resettled in Australia for 6.1 ± 4.2 months were assessed. Levels of anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress symptoms were considerably lower than in mainstream population data. Prior displacement was a key determinant of symptomatology. Transitory displacement, irrespective of duration, was associated with elevated scores for depression (t (47) = -4.05, p < 0.0001), avoidance/numbing (U = 466, p <.05) and total trauma (U = 506, p <.05) symptoms. Older age was a unique predictor of depression (F (1,74) = 8.98, p <.01), internalising (F(1,74) = 6.28, p <.05) and total (F(1,74) = 4.10, p <.05) symptoms, whilst parental depression symptoms (t = 2.01, p < 0.05), displacement (t = 3.35, p < 0.01) and, expectedly, trauma exposure (t = 3.94, p < 0.001) were unique predictors of post-traumatic stress symptoms. Conclusions: Displaced status, older age, and parental symptoms predicted psychological symptoms in adolescent refugees in an initial relatively asymptomatic post-resettlement phase. The early recognition of at-risk refugee youth may provide an opportunity for preventative mental health interventions.
KW - Adolescents
KW - Depression symptoms
KW - Displacement
KW - Posttraumatic symptoms
KW - Resettled refugees
KW - Risk factors
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85144554589&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s13034-022-00538-y
DO - 10.1186/s13034-022-00538-y
M3 - Article
C2 - 36539785
AN - SCOPUS:85144554589
SN - 1753-2000
VL - 16
JO - Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health
JF - Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health
IS - 1
M1 - 105
ER -