Negotiating identity at the intersection of family legacy and present time life conditions: A qualitative exploration of central issues connected to identity and belonging in the lives of children of refugees

Abstract

Introduction: Most studies on refugee populations are organized around trauma-related issues and focus on explanations of pathological factors. Few studies are anchored in general developmental psychology with the aim of exploring normal age-specific developmental tasks and how the special circumstances associated with forced migration can influence that development. Methods: Using an ecological and transactional understanding of developmental trajectories, this qualitative study explored issues connected to identity formation processes in an exile context based on interviews with 6 male and 10 female children of refugees (18-26 years) who have grown up in Norway. Results: The findings show that family experiences of war and conflict intersect with experiences of marginalization in exile. The interaction of these experiences influences the development of individual identity in cumulative and complex ways. Many of the participants expressed feelings of isolation, disconnectedness, and a lack of belonging. Nevertheless, though the participants described growing up facing major challenges, they also searched for ways to reframe their difficult personal and family histories into meaningful experiences. Conclusions: In order to provide conditions and develop interventions that can support well-being and identity development, we need a better understanding of the different forces that influence the identity development of children of refugees. By foregrounding the participants' experiences, and perspectives, we gained insight into different ways in which participants negotiate identity issues in relation to often contradictory demands and messages from family and the wider social context.

“I Have No Capacities That Can Help Me”: Young Asylum Seekers in Norway and Serbia – Flight as Disturbance of Developmental Processes

“…Erikson explored nuances and variance in these developmental processes and how social, historical, and political contexts interact with personal development (Syed and Fish, 2018). Healthy identity implies, in this perspective, sense of temporal and contextual integration and identity can be understood as an integration of the numerous, possibly conflicting, and aspects of individual lives (Akhtar, 1995;Johansen and Varvin, 2020). In Erikson's eight developmental stages, development in each stage is dependent on how successful or unsuccessful the previous stages have been.…”

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“…Our impression from the qualitative interviews was that many of our informants struggled with relating socially to anyone outside the immediate family. A separate study of children in refugee families, including several children of participants in this study, showed that the children took much responsibility for parents' social function, including relations outside the family [68,69]. Among the adult participants in the present study, however, some appeared to become more socially confident after the benign experience of talking with their therapist, and when the pressure of their trauma-related and depressive ruminations decreased.…”