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Mental health problems of Syrian refugee children: the role of parental factors

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Abstract

War-torn children are particularly vulnerable through direct trauma exposure as well through their parents’ responses. This study thus investigated the association between trauma exposure and children’s mental health, and the contribution of parent-related factors in this association. A cross-sectional study with 263 Syrian refugee children-parent dyads was conducted in Turkey. The Stressful Life Events Questionnaire (SLE), General Health Questionnaire, Parenting Stress Inventory (PSI-SF), Impact of Events Scale for Children (CRIES-8), and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire were used to measure trauma exposure, parental psychopathology, parenting-related stress, children’s post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), and mental health problems, respectively. Trauma exposure significantly accounted for unique variance in children’s PTSS scores. Parental psychopathology significantly contributed in predicting children’s general mental health, as well as emotional and conduct problems, after controlling for trauma variables. Interventions need to be tailored to refugee families’ mental health needs. Trauma-focused interventions should be applied with children with PTSD; whilst family-based approaches targeting parents’ mental health and parenting-related stress should be used in conjunction with individual interventions to improve children’s comorbid emotional and behavioural problems.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to all the families who took part in the study. Our sincere thanks to the two school principals and teachers for their kind support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, Centre for Medicine, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, UK

    Seyda Eruyar, John Maltby & Panos Vostanis

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  1. Seyda Eruyar
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  2. John Maltby
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  3. Panos Vostanis
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Correspondence to Panos Vostanis.

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This article is part of the focused issue ‘Mental health issues in refugees’.

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Eruyar, S., Maltby, J. & Vostanis, P. Mental health problems of Syrian refugee children: the role of parental factors. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 27, 401–409 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-017-1101-0

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