My family matters: Past and future life stories in adolescents with refugee background

Ramsgaard, Stine B.; Bohn, Annette

doi:10.1002/acp.3578

Cited by 3 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…The second most common method used was the important memory method. Seven studies utilized this method in which participants were asked to report their most traumatic or distressful life events (9,28,56,57,60,61,64). In these studies, participants mostly recalled negative life events with the occasional retrieval of happy, neutral, nostalgic, or random memories.…”

Section: Memory Activation Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In these studies, participants mostly recalled negative life events with the occasional retrieval of happy, neutral, nostalgic, or random memories. Participants of two studies were asked to imagine future events along with the retrieval of autobiographical memories (64,75). In two studies (28,60), the consistency of important memories was assessed through repeated recall.…”

Section: Memory Activation Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They perceived their refugee status as worthless compared to their pre-migration life (85). Their refugee status and future uncertainty affected adolescents' daily lives, cultural lives, and self-identities; thus, they tended to generate less normative cultural life scripts than non-refugee adolescents (64).…”

Section: Changing Status and Identity Confusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The inconsistency was more apparent for the marginal description of an event than for the description of the event core (28). Adolescents were more likely than adults to alter their distressful life experiences (57); however, their simulation of future events was coherent with their memories (64). Inconsistencies between oral histories and academically documented stories were also observed (80), with oral histories being more amorphous and variant.…”

Section: Inconsistent Memorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In six studies (64,72,73,76,79,85), both adolescent and adult refugee participants mentioned an alteration of past identities and accountabilities. They perceived their refugee status as worthless compared to their pre-migration life (85).…”

Section: Changing Status and Identity Confusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

A Systematic Review of Autobiographical Memory and Mental Health Research on Refugees and Asylum Seekers

2021

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Research examining trauma, memory, and mental health among refugee and asylum-seeking people has increased in recent years. We systematically reviewed empirical work focusing on the link between autobiographical memory and mental health among these populations. The review protocol was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42018095888). Six major databases were searched in August-2020 with no time limit for publication. Following PRISMA Statement guidelines, 22 articles reporting ten quantitative, nine qualitative, and three mixed-method studies were selected from 254 articles identified in the initial search. A basic convergent and qualitative meta-integration technique was employed for data extraction. Four recurrent themes were extracted: (1) memory activation method, (2) memory features, (3) memory content, and (4) refugee mental health. Theme 1 illustrates that narrative interviews, important event recall, and cue word methods were used in most studies. Theme 2 highlights that memories of refugee people were often less specific, inconsistent, and negative-focused. Retrieval failure was also common among these people. Theme 3 reveals that refugee and asylum-seeking people frequently discussed their abandoned identities, lost resources, injustices, ongoing sufferings, and pointless futures. Finally, theme 4 identifies the prevalence of various mental health conditions like Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, depression, helplessness, and anger among these people. The results are discussed in the context of the current autobiographical memory and mental health theories, considering refugee-specific experiences in the asylum process and refugee status.

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Section: Memory Activation Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Memory Activation Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Changing Status and Identity Confusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Inconsistent Memorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Changing Status and Identity Confusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Systematic Review of Autobiographical Memory and Mental Health Research on Refugees and Asylum Seekers

2021

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Autobiographical memory and future episodic thinking among trauma‐exposed Rohingya refugee people

Khan

Haque

2022

Applied Cognitive Psychology

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Past research has shown that trauma‐exposed refugee people frequently report less specific autobiographical memories, but the characteristics of their future episodic thinking remain largely unexplored. This study investigated the specificity and emotional valence of autobiographical memory and future episodic thinking produced by 120 Rohingya refugee people resettled in Malaysia. The participants retrieved three autobiographical memories and produced three future episodes to three cue words. The Post‐Traumatic Stress Disorder‐8 Scale, Patients Health Questionnaire‐9, and Trauma Questionnaires assessed participants' PTSD, depression, and trauma exposures. Results revealed that nearly two‐thirds of the memories (64%) were overgeneral, and almost an equal number contained traumatic elements (63%). However, most future episodes were overgeneral (91%), and two‐thirds showed positivity bias (62.5%). The participants who retrieved more autobiographical memories with enhanced specificity also reported more future episodes with enhanced specificity. The higher PTSD and depression significantly predicted the reporting of overgeneral future episodes. Participants with a lower level of depression were more likely to report future episodes with enhanced positivity. The results indicate that therapeutic interventions targeting improving memory specificity and the positivity of future episodes could eventually improve refugee people's mental health.

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A tale of two cultural life scripts: do young second-generation Turkish immigrants versus young Danes in Denmark perceive life through different cultural lenses?

Özbek

Bohn

Berntsen

2021

Memory

Self Cite

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Cultural life scripts refer to the shared expectations as to the order and timing of life events in a prototypical life course within a given culture or subculture. Immigration is a significant transition that often implies a change in cultural context, which may change people's views about a normative life. However, research on cultural life scripts in the context of immigration has been limited. We addressed this gap by examining the cultural life scripts of 33 young second-generation Turkish immigrants and 33 young Danes in Denmark, pairwise-matched on age, gender, and education, along with their subjective well-being and acculturation level. Both groups reported mostly positive life script events expected to occur in early adulthood and their individual life scripts generally had a positive outlook. In contrast to earlier studies, we found no evidence of lower subjective well-being or greater normativity of the cultural life script in the immigrant group.Moreover, the acculturation level of the Turkish group correlated positively with their subjective well-being, suggesting that adapting at least to some degree to the daily life of the host country is associated with well-being of second-generation immigrants.

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My family matters: Past and future life stories in adolescents with refugee background

Abstract: This is the accepted manuscript (post-print version) of the article. Contentwise, the accepted manuscript version is identical to the final published version, but there may be differences in typography and layout.

Cited by 3 publications

References 72 publications

A Systematic Review of Autobiographical Memory and Mental Health Research on Refugees and Asylum Seekers

A Systematic Review of Autobiographical Memory and Mental Health Research on Refugees and Asylum Seekers

Autobiographical memory and future episodic thinking among trauma‐exposed Rohingya refugee people

A tale of two cultural life scripts: do young second-generation Turkish immigrants versus young Danes in Denmark perceive life through different cultural lenses?

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