Coping in Limbo? The Moderating Role of Coping Strategies in the Relationship between Post-Migration Stress and Well-Being during the Asylum-Seeking Process

Abstract

Asylum seekers are faced with high levels of post-migratory stress due to uncertainty and uncontrollability of the application process, resulting in higher levels of mental health problems. Little is known about the coping strategies utilized by asylum seekers in this context. Structural equation modeling and the stepwise modeling approach were utilized on cross-sectional data from a cohort of asylum seekers in Sweden (N = 455) to examine whether adaptive coping in the form of problem-focused and cognitive-based coping would buffer the impact of post-migratory stressors by moderating the relationship between the stressors and well-being. Fit indices showed good to excellent fit of the final model that regressed well-being on selected post-migratory stressors and coping (CFI = 0.964, RMSEA = 0.043 (90% CI = 0.035–0.051), SRMR = 0.044). Well-being was negatively and significantly regressed on both perceived discrimination (B = −0.42, SE = 0.11, p < 0.001) and distressing family conflicts (B = −0.16, SE = 0.07, p = 0.037), and positively and significantly regressed on cognitive restructuring (B = 0.71, SE = 0.33, p = 0.030). There was, however, no evidence that coping strategies modified the adverse associations between the two post-migratory stressors and well-being. Interventions and policies should prioritize improving contextual factors inherent in the asylum-seeking process in order to reduce stress and enable coping.

Syrian Refugee Youth Resettled in Norway: Mechanisms of Resilience Influencing Health-Related Quality of Life and Mental Distress

“…Or, that the protective resilience mechanism is relevant for some types of risk and resilience and not others ( 65 ). A lack of fit would then explain the absence of the buffering effects ( 66 ). Others suggest that the absence of protective resilience effects could be due to very high levels of current stress in the group—for example in detention, asylum or transit situations—as stress could overwhelm individuals or deplete their coping resources ( 66 , 67 ).…”

“…A lack of fit would then explain the absence of the buffering effects ( 66 ). Others suggest that the absence of protective resilience effects could be due to very high levels of current stress in the group—for example in detention, asylum or transit situations—as stress could overwhelm individuals or deplete their coping resources ( 66 , 67 ). This result is also described in resilience theories, where risk factors can decrease the amount of resilience or inhibit it from having an effect ( 12 ).…”

Forced Migrant: The Factors Contributing to Social Functionality of Syrian Youth

“…Many coping styles can be classified into two groups. These are positive active coping styles and negative maladaptive coping styles (Solberg, et al, 2021).…”

The Role of Coping Strategies in the Resilience and Well-Being of College Students during COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Many studies have been conducted with coping strategies serving as a moderator variable between different variables, such as between stress and quality of life (Dardas & Ahmad, 2015), academic performance (Greer et al, 2015), burnout (Noureen et al, 2019;Solberg et al, 2021), cardiovascular reactivity (Cavanagh & Obasi, 2021), self-leadership (Maykrantz, 2017), and wellbeing (Solberg et al, 2021), between anxiety and self-efficacy (Arora et al, 2021), between bullying and emotional abuse and harassment (Van den Brande et al, 2021), between job insecurity and mental health (Menendez-Espina et al, 2019), between parental efficacy and depressive symptoms (Woodman & Hauser-Cram, 2012), between negative urgency and psychological distress (Altan-Atalay & Zeytun, 2020), between work-family spillover and subjective well-being (Sirgy et al, 2020), and between illness perception and quality of life (Bazzazian et al, 2010).…”