Refugee children’s mental health and development - A public health problem in Europe

Authors

  • Edith Montgomery Danish Research Centre for Migration, Ethnicity and Health, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7146/torture.v32i1-2.131756

Keywords:

torture, public health, refugee children, refugee youth, history of torture, torture journal

Abstract

Knowledge about refugee children’s mental health has developed considerably during the last 30 years. From believing that children’s reactions largely depend on their parents, it has become clear that children are influenced both by their own experiences, by the reactions of their caregivers and by the social environment in which they live. While psychological problems are frequent in children close to arrival in exile, follow-up studies have shown that the magnitude of the problems is reduced over time. Aspects of social life as well as stressful events in exile seem to be of paramount importance for children’s ability to recover from early traumatization. Prolonged asylum procedures, temporary residence permits, delayed family reunifications, many school-moves and xenophobic attitudes is counteracting healthy development. The results of research on refugee children and youth indicate the existence of a large public health problem which calls for policy change and political action.

References

Alayarian, A. (2009). Children, torture and

psychological consequences. Torture Journal;

(2): 145–156. PMID: 19920332.

Arakelyan, S. & Ager, A. (2021). Annual Research

Review: A multilevel bioecological analysis

of factors influencing the mental health and

psychosocial well-being of refugee children.

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry; 62(5):

-509. DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.13355

Baro, D. (2006). Children witnessing atrocities

against parents or caregivers. A human rights

perspective. Torture Journal; 16(3): 190–219.

Benedek. E.P. (1985). Children and psychic trauma:

a brief review of contemporary thinking. In:

Eth, S., Pynoos R.S. (eds). Post-traumatic stress

disorder in children. Washington, DC; American

Psychiatric Press, 3-16.

Bryant, R.A., Edwards, B., Creamer, M., O’Donnell,

M., Forbes, D., Felmingham, K.L., …Hadzi-

Pavlovic, D. (2018). The effect of post-traumatic

stress disorder on refugees’ parenting and

their children’s mental health: a cohort study.

The Lancet Public Health, 3(5), 249-258. DOI:

1016/S2468-2667(18)30051-3

Dalgaard, N.T. (2016): The impact of Islam and the

public and political portrayals of Islam on childrearing

practices – Discursive analyses of parental

accounts among Muslims living in Denmark.

Culture & Psychology, vol. 22(1) 65-79. DOI:

1177/1354067X15621478

Dalgaard, N. & Montgomery, E. (2017). The

transgenerational transmission of refugee trauma:

family functioning and children’s psychosocial

adjustment. International Journal of Migration,

Health and Social Care; 13(3): 289-301. DOI:

1108/ijmhsc-06-2016-0024

Dalgaard, N.T.,Thøgersen, M.H. & Riber, K.

(2020). Transgenerational trauma transmission

in refugee families. The role of traumatic

suffering, attachment representations, and

parental caregiving. In: Haene, L.D. &

Rousseau, C. (eds.). Working with refugee

families. Trauma and exile in family relationships.

Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. DOI:

1017/9781108602105.004

Eth, S., Pynoss, R.S. (1985). Developmental

perspective on psychic trauma in childhood.

In: Figley, C.R. (ed.). Trauma and its wake.

New York: Brunner/Mazel: 36-51. DOI:

4324/9780203776209

Gauffin, K. (2020). Labour market policy. In:

Coming of Age in Exile. Health and socio-economic

inequalities in young refugees in the Nordic welfare

societies, (44-49). Copenhagen; University of

Copenhagen, Department of Public Health.

ISBN: 978-87-972779-0-4

Garmezy, N., Rutter, M. (1985). Acute reactions to

stress. In: Rutter, M., Hersov, L., (eds.). Child

and adolescent psychiatry. Oxford; Blackwell, 152-

DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.1986.tb01844.x

Haene, F.D. (2009). Attachment security in refugee

families. An analysis of attachment- and traumaspecific

representational sequelae of forced

displacement and their narrative assessment. Leuven:

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.

Hjern, A. & Angel, B. (2000). Organized violence

and mental health of refugee children in exile: a

six-year follow-up study. Acta Paediatr; (89): 722-

DOI: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.2000.tb00372.x

Jørgensen, P.S., Leth, I. & Montgomery, E. (2011).

The children’s rights convention in Denmark: A

status report on implementation. Early Education

and Development; 22 (5): 839-862. DOI:

1080/10409289.2011.597026

Lustig, S.L., Kia-Keating, M., Knight, W.G.,

Geltman, P., Ellis, H., Kinzie, J.D., et al. (2004).

Review of child and adolescent refugee mental

health. Journal of the American Academy of

Child & Adolescent Psychiatry; 43: 24-36. DOI:

1097/00004583-200401000-00012

Montgomery, E. (1998). Refugee children from the Middle East. Scandinavian Journal of Social

Medicine (Suppl 54); 1-152. (Reprinted online in

Torture Journal, 2017, Suppl. 1). http://www.jstor.

org/stable/45199799

Montgomery, E. (2004). Tortured families:

a coordinated management of meaning

analysis. Family Process; 43(3): 349-371. DOI:

1111/j.1545-5300.2004.00027.x

Montgomery, E. (2008a). Long-term effects of

organised violence on young Middle Eastern

refugees’ mental health. Social Science &

Medicine; 67:1596-1603. DOI: 10.1016/j.

soscimed.2008.07.020

Montgomery, E. (2008b). Self- and parent

assessment of mental health: disagreement on

externalizing and internalizing behavior in young

refugees from the Middle East. Clinical Child

Psychology and Psychiatry; 13(1): 49-63. DOI:

1177/1359104507086341

Montgomery, E. (2010). Trauma and resilience

in young refugees: a 9-year follow-up study.

Development and Psychopathology; 22: 477-489.

DOI: 10.1017/S0954579410000180

Montgomery, E. (2011). Trauma, exile and mental

health in young refugees. Acta Psychiatrica

Scandinavica; 124 (suppl. 440): 1-46. DOI:

1111/j.1600-0447.2011.01740.x

Montgomery, E. & Foldspang, A. (1994). Criterionrelated

validity of screening for exposure to

torture. Danish Medical Bulletin; 41: 588-91.

PMID: 7859525

Montgomery, E. & Foldspang, A. (2001). Traumatic

experience and sleep disturbance in refugee

children from the Middle East. European Journal

of Public Health; 11: 18-22. DOI: 10.1093/

eurpub/11.1.18

Montgomery, E. & Foldspang, A. (2008).

Discrimination, mental problems and social

adaptation in young refugees. European Journal

of Public Health; 18 (2): 156-161. DOI:10.1093/

eurpub/ckm073

Montgomery, E., Just-Østergaard, E. & Jervelund,

S.S. (2019). Transmitting trauma: a systematic

review of the risk of child abuse perpetrated by

parents exposed to traumatic events. International

Journal of Public Health; 64 (2): 241-251. DOI:

1007/s00038-018-1185-4

Sack, W.H., Him, C. & Dickason, D. (1999). Twelveyear

follow-up study of Khmer youths who

suffered massive war trauma as children. J Am

Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry; (38): 1173-1179.

DOI: 10.1097/00004583-199909000-00023

Sack, W.H., Clarke, G., Him, C. et al. (1993). A

-year follow-up study of Cambodian refugee

adolescents traumatized as children. J Am Acad

Child Adolesc Psychiatry; (32): 431-437. DOI:

1097/00004583-199303000-00027

Terr, L.C. (1981). Psychic trauma in children:

observations following the Chowchilla school-bus

kidnapping. Am J Psychiatry; 138; 14-19. DOI:

1176/ajp.138.1.14

Terr, L.C. (1983). Chowchilla revisited: the effects

of psychic trauma four years after a school-bus

kidnapping. Am J Psychiatry; 140: 1543-1550.

DOI: 10.1176/ajp.140.12.1543

Timshel, I., Montgomery, E. & Dalgaard, N.T. A

systematic review of risk and protective factors

associated with family related violence in refugee

families. Child Abuse & Neglect, 2017, 70: 315-

DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.06.023

Downloads

Published

2022-06-13

How to Cite

Montgomery, E. (2022). Refugee children’s mental health and development - A public health problem in Europe. Torture Journal, 32(1-2), 163–171. https://doi.org/10.7146/torture.v32i1-2.131756