Organized Violence and Exile: The Experience of Arab Families

 Organized Violence and Exile: The Experience of Families from the Middle East?

Principal investigator: Edith Montgomery

Presenter: Anders Foldspang

Based on data from a baseline study including 311 refugee children from the Middle East, aged 3-15 years at arrival in Denmark, and a follow-up study of 131 of the same children, the role of family and other social relationships for short- and long time adaptation after traumatic experience associated with war and other organized violence will be presented.

At study start, the children’s mental health, not least anxiety, was found to be associated with their and their families’ traumatic experience prior to emigration and exile. At follow-up 8-9 years later, the influence of early traumatic experience on long-term mental health was more limited. The study showed that refugee children’s mental problems, following traumatic experience and flight as well as their adaptation to life in exile, must be understood in relation to the possibilities and constraints embedded in both their immediate (family and friends) and their more distant social life contexts (school, work, community). The study emphasizes the importance of environmental factors in recovery from the impact of traumatic experiences related to war and other organized violence. This has implications for public health policy as well as individually-oriented clinical practice.