Mental Health of Refugee and Non-refugee Migrant Young People in European Secondary Education: The Role of Family Separation, Daily Material Stress and Perceived Discrimination in Resettlement

Abstract

While scholarly literature indicates that both refugee and non-refugee migrant young people display increased levels of psychosocial vulnerability, studies comparing the mental health of the two groups remain scarce. This study aims to further the existing evidence by examining refugee and non-refugee migrants' mental health, in relation to their migration history and resettlement conditions. The mental health of 883 refugee and 483 non-refugee migrants (mean age 15.41, range 11-24, 45.9% girls, average length of stay in the host country 3.75 years) in five European countries was studied in their relation to family separation, daily material stress and perceived discrimination in resettlement. All participants reported high levels of post-traumatic stress symptoms. Family separation predicted post-trauma and internalizing behavioral difficulties only in refugees. Daily material stress related to lower levels of overall well-being in all participants, and higher levels of internalizing and externalizing behavioral difficulties in refugees. Perceived discrimination was associated with increased levels of mental health problems for refugees and non-refugee migrants. The relationship between perceived discrimination and post-traumatic stress symptoms in non-refugee migrants, together with the high levels of post-traumatic stress symptoms in this subsample, raises important questions on the nature of trauma exposure in non-refugee migrants, as well as the ways in which experiences of discrimination may interact with other traumatic stressors in predicting mental health.

Migrant Students’ Sense of Belonging and the Covid‐19 Pandemic: Implications for Educational Inclusion

“…Fewer studies have investigated the role of mental health in the development of a sense of school belonging, but mental health problems are assumed to have a negative influence on school belonging (Allen & Kern, 2017;Allen et al, 2018). This might be particularly relevant for migrant youth who often present with high levels of post-traumatic stress symptoms (Spaas et al, 2021).…”

Working With the Encounter: A Descriptive Account and Case Analysis of School-Based Collaborative Mental Health Care for Refugee Children in Leuven, Belgium

“…Last, further research could strengthen the proposed model for the joint assessment of child development within collaborative mental health care (see also: Figure 1 ; Based on: De Haene and Rousseau, 2020 ). As a seminal but growing body of studies points to interactions between refugee children’s mental health, linguistic competence, and social and cultural integration (e.g., Evans et al, 2020 ; Walker and Zuberi, 2020 ; Spaas et al, 2021 ), it seems highly relevant to further develop our understanding of refugee children’s psychosocial, language, and cultural development within the collaborative care context. Future research could, for example, engage in a profiling of prototypical associations between refugee children’s mental health, their linguistic development (both native language and second language proficiency) and patterns of social, home and host cultural integration, including a contextualization of development within the dimensions of family functioning, migration history, and host society conditions ( Nadeau et al, 2018 ).…”

“…Third, assessment within our collaborative mental health care practice contextualizes child development within the refugee families’ social condition in the host country. With existing research underscoring the role of post-migration stressors (e.g., financial stressors, prolonged residence insecurity, inadequate housing, social isolation, ostracism and social exclusion) in maintaining or aggravating the negative impact of traumatization, loss, and exile on mental health and development in refugee children and their families (e.g., Vervliet et al, 2014 ; Keles et al, 2016 ; Kohli and Kaukko, 2017 ; Miller and Rasmussen, 2017 ; Spaas et al, 2021 ), assessment within the collaborative networks holds an explicit emphasis on locating the child’s and family’s development within these broader social conditions. Hereto, the CCRC explores the family’s position within their broader social fabric and cultural community, and invites parental accounts of potential experiences of material stress, socio-economic deprivation or experiences of racism and discrimination.…”

“…Second, situating care within the school context enables a contextualizing approach to mental health care, as school-based intervention allows to target social realities that play a major role in shaping refugee children’s development and mental health. Here, studies demonstrate the important role of positive school-based relations (e.g., between peers, student–teacher relations), school policies and positive feelings of school belonging for refugee children’s well-being, their adaption and feelings of belonging to the host-society (e.g., Schachner et al, 2018 ), while equally indicating how the school operates as social space where refugee children encounter the detrimental developmental and mental health impact of post-migration stressors of social isolation, exclusion, and discrimination ( Kia-Keating and Ellis, 2007 ; Spaas et al, 2021 ). With scholarly work increasingly pointing to the role of school-based relationships in exacerbating or counteracting the detrimental impact of these post-migration stressors, school-based intervention allows to target these important social variables.…”

Effectiveness of Promotive and Preventive Psychosocial Interventions on Improving the Mental Health of Finnish-Born and Immigrant Adolescents

“…Students with immigrant backgrounds are especially vulnerable, and many of them feel lonely and excluded in their peer relations when resettling in a new country [ 6 ]. Heightened levels of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression are common in migrant and refugee children and adolescents [ 7 , 8 , 9 ]. These disorders are even more pronounced among refugee adolescents, as they carry multiple burdens of traumatic war and migration experiences [ 10 ].…”