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Determinants of Children’s Mental Health in War-Torn Settings: Translating Research Into Action

  • Child and Family Disaster Psychiatry (B Pfefferbaum, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Research on the mental health and psychosocial wellbeing of children in conflict-affected settings has undergone a significant paradigm shift in recent years. Earlier studies based on a war exposure model primarily emphasized the effects of direct exposure to armed conflict; this has gradually given way to a broader understanding of the diverse pathways by which organized violence affects children. A robustly supported comprehensive model includes risk factors at multiple points in time (prior war exposure, ongoing daily stressors) and at all levels of the social ecology. In particular, findings suggest that material deprivation and a set of family variables, including harsh parenting, parental distress, and witnessing intimate partner violence, are important mediators of the relationship between armed conflict and children’s wellbeing. To date, however, interventions aimed at supporting war-affected children’s wellbeing, both preventive and treatment-focused, have focused primarily on direct work with children, while paying only modest attention to ongoing risk factors in their families and broader environments. Possible reasons for the ongoing prioritization of child-focused interventions are considered, and examples are provided of recent evidence-based interventions that have reduced toxic stressors (harsh parenting and the use of violent discipline by teachers) in conflict-affected communities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Research and Development, War Child Holland, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Kenneth E. Miller & Mark J. D. Jordans

  2. Center for Global Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK

    Mark J. D. Jordans

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  1. Kenneth E. Miller
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Correspondence to Kenneth E. Miller.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Child and Family Disaster Psychiatry

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Miller, K.E., Jordans, M.J.D. Determinants of Children’s Mental Health in War-Torn Settings: Translating Research Into Action. Curr Psychiatry Rep 18, 58 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-016-0692-3

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