Abstract
Objectives: In the present study, we examined relations between premigration, perimigration, and postmigration risk factors (i.e., potentially traumatic events [PTEs], postmigration living problems [PMLPs], stressful life events) and psychological symptoms (i.e., anxiety/depression, posttraumatic stress) in Syrian emerging adults with refugee backgrounds; we also tested cultural identity conflict as a possible mediator of these relations. We expected that greater exposure to migration risk factors was associated with more psychological symptoms and that higher cultural identity conflict would contribute to these associations.
Methods: We used data from the first wave of Karakter, a longitudinal study of 158 Syrians with refugee backgrounds (69.0% men, age range 18–35). Participants completed a questionnaire assessing PTEs, PMLPs, stressful life events, cultural identity conflict, and symptoms of anxiety/depression and posttraumatic stress.
Results: Correlational analyses indicated that more PTEs and stressful life events were related to higher levels of cultural identity conflict and more psychological symptoms. Furthermore, greater cultural identity conflict was associated with more psychological symptoms. We did not observe indirect effects of cultural identity conflict in the mediation analyses.
Conclusions: Results suggest that postmigration stressors and cultural identity conflict are associated with psychological symptoms among Syrian emerging adults who have resettled in the Netherlands.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1434-1451 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | Journal of Clinical Psychology |
| Volume | 79 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - May 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2023 The Authors. Journal of Clinical Psychology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.
Funding
This study is part of the Karakter project (Chung et al., 2022 ) ( https://www.karakterproject.nl/ ), a 13‐month longitudinal study funded by the John Templeton Foundation. Participants were primarily recruited through organizations that serve people with refugee backgrounds (e.g., asylum seeker centers, refugee support organizations, language centers, and community groups) and through announcements on social media in Arabic and Dutch that included a link to the project website. Members of the data collection team also visited centers and community events, gave presentations about the research, and handed out flyers to inform potential participants about the study. A small proportion of the participants was collected via snowball sampling, where participants in the study shared information about the study with their network. Criteria for participation were: (1) being of Syrian‐origin (having Syrian nationality and having lived in Syria), (2) having fluency in reading and writing Arabic (the questionnaires were presented in Arabic, the official language of Syria), (3) being between the ages of 18‐ and 35‐year old, and (4) having entered the Netherlands between 6 and 60 months before participation in the study. 1
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Report commissioned by the John Templeton Foundation |
Keywords
- cultural identity conflict
- mental health
- postmigration
- refugee
- Syrian
