Sierra Leone’s Former Child Soldiers: A Follow‐Up Study of Psychosocial Adjustment and Community Reintegration

Betancourt, Theresa S.; Borisova, Ivelina; Williams, Timothy P.; Brennan, Robert T.; Whitfield, Theodore H.; Soudière, Marie de la; Williamson, John; Gilman, Stephen E.

doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01455.x

Cited by 207 publications

(178 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…General witnessing of war violence, for example, was not associated with changes in mental health, while being raped was predictive of higher levels of internalizing problems but not of increased externalizing problems or decreased prosocial behavior. Our findings - particularly the associations we observed between perpetration of violence, increases in externalizing problems, and decreases in adaptive/prosocial behaviors - are consistent with relationships observed in other studies of former child soldiers 3, 5 and adult war veterans. 32 …”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…1, 2 Despite the documentation of risks facing child soldiers due to war-related violence, 3 little is known about what influences long-term mental health trajectories and processes of social reintegration. Recent studies on former child soldiers from northern Uganda, 4 the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 5 and Nepal 6 have provided insight into the impact of war experience on reintegration and psychosocial adjustment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sierra Leone's Former Child Soldiers: A Longitudinal Study of Risk, Protective Factors, and Mental Health

Betancourt¹,

Brennan²,

Rubin-Smith³

et al. 2010

Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psych

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Objective To investigate the longitudinal course of internalizing and externalizing problems and adaptive/prosocial behaviors among Sierra Leonean former child soldiers and whether post-conflict factors contribute to adverse or resilient mental health outcomes. Method Male and female former child soldiers (N=260, ages 10–17 at baseline) were recruited from the roster of an NGO-run Interim Care Center in Kono District and interviewed in 2002, 2004 and 2008. The retention rate was 69%. Linear growth models were used to investigate trends related to war and post-conflict experiences. Results The long-term mental health of former child soldiers was associated with war experiences and post-conflict risk factors, which were partly mitigated by post-conflict protective factors. Increases in externalizing behavior were associated with killing/injuring others during the war and post-conflict stigma while increased community acceptance was associated with decreases in externalizing problems (B=−1.09). High baseline levels of internalizing problems were associated with surviving rape while increases were associated with younger involvement in armed groups and social and economic hardships. Improvements in internalizing problems were associated with higher levels of community acceptance and increases in community acceptance (B=−0.86). Decreases in adaptive/prosocial behaviors were associated with killing/injuring others during the war and post-conflict stigma, but partially mitigated by social support, being in school and increased community acceptance (B=1.93). Conclusions Psychosocial interventions for former child soldiers may be more effective if they account for post-conflict factors in addition to war exposures. Youth with accumulated risk factors, lack of protective factors, and persistent distress should be identified; sustainable services to promote community acceptance, reduce stigma, and expand social supports and educational access are recommended.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sierra Leone's Former Child Soldiers: A Longitudinal Study of Risk, Protective Factors, and Mental Health

Betancourt¹,

Brennan²,

Rubin-Smith³

et al. 2010

Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psych

Self Cite

160

240

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Retention was at the higher end of other longitudinal studies with at-risk populations in settings of community and political conflict, ranging from 50% to 86% (e.g., Betancourt et al, 2010;Browning, Burrington, Leventhal, & Brooks-Gunn, 2008;Kronenberg et al, 2010). The relatively high retention rates may have reflected, in part, our strategy of contacting families at least three times for each yearly wave and other measures, such as including annual letters reminding participants we would be calling again ahead of each wave.…”

Section: Methods Participantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining Bidirectional Pathways Between Exposure to Political Violence and Adolescent Adjustment in Northern Ireland

Cummings

Taylor

et al. 2017

Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology

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Objective. Research on social ecologies of political violence has been largely confined to crosssectional tests of the impact of political violence on child adjustment, limiting perspectives on more nuanced causal pathways, including tests of reciprocal relations between exposure to political violence and child adjustment. Based on a four-waves of longitudinal, this study breaks new ground in assessing bidirectional relations between exposure to political violence in the form of experience with sectarian antisocial behavior and adolescents' adjustment problems.Method. The study included 999 mother-adolescent dyads selected from working-class neighborhoods in Belfast ranked in the bottom quartile in terms of social deprivation in Northern Ireland, with approximately 35-40 families recruited to participate from each neighborhood.Across the four annual waves of data, adolescents (52% female) were 12.18 (SD=1.82), 13.24 (SD=1.83), 13.62 (SD=1.99), and 14.66 (SD=1.96) years old. Cross-lagged path models were tested through R package lavaan with full information maximum likelihood. Results.. Reflecting a reciprocal pathway, adjustment problems related to higher reports of experience with sectarian antisocial behavior one year later. Boys' experience with sectarian antisocial behavior related to greater adjustment problems one year later; but this reciprocal path did hold for the girls.Conclusions. These findings offer promising directions towards better modeling of dynamic relations between exposure to political violence and adolescent adjustment over time.Keywords: political violence, child and adolescent adjustment, bidirectional pathways, community violence, gender differences Bidirectional Relations, Political Violence and Adolescent Adjustment 3 Examining Bidirectional Pathways between Exposure to Political Violence and Adolescent Adjustment over Time in Northern IrelandThere is increasing concern worldwide with regard to the impact of political violence on children's adjustment and well-being (Betancourt & Khan, 2008;Boxer et al., 2013;Ladd & Cairns, 1996). Research has repeatedly documented there is an elevated risk for adjustment problems among children and adolescents living in contexts of political violence (Betancourt, Meyers-Ohki, Charrow, & Tol, 2013;Betancourt et al., 2014;Dubow, Huesmann, and Boxer, 2009;Jordans, Tol, Komproe, & De Jong, 2009). These findings call attention to the significant challenges for children's adjustment posed by political violence and the urgency for effective intervention for child adjustment problems. The urgency for intervention is heightened if one considers that children's adjustment problems may not only pose problems for children's well-being but also contribute to the continuation or even escalation of political violence (Taylor, Merrilees, GoekeMorey, .Studies on the interrelations between youth adjustment and exposure to political violence have typically made the implicit assumption that the direction of causation flows in one direction. That is, the conceptua...

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“…126 Social-emotional development Meta-analytic findings involving previously institutionalized adopted infants document the latter half of the first year as a sensitive period for promoting attachment security. 113,127 Findings suggest that the early years of life are a particularly salient time period for preventative interventions to reduce negative emotionality and behavioral problems or promote self-regulation or pro-social behaviors 128,129 Adverse long-term consequences associated with exposure in childhood or adolescence to developmental risks such as: Societal violence; 149 ; Alcohol; 150 Culturally based socialization for aggressive behavior; 151 Positive consequences associated with exposure in childhood or adolescence to positive developmental influences such as: Social support, which facilitates children's resilience after occurrence of a major natural disaster; 152 Community acceptance, which supports the adjustment of former child soldiers; 153 Treatment programs for abused children; 154 Programs to increase child pro-social behavior and reduce aggression; 155 School based programs to promote better inhibitory control; 144 Drug prevention programs 156 Programs for reducing the impact of parental divorce on offspring. 157 Cognitive/academic competence.…”

Section: Child Outcomes: Early Exposures or Interventions (Infancy-eamentioning

confidence: 99%

Issues in the Timing of Integrated Early Interventions: Contributions from Nutrition, Neuroscience, and Psychological Research

Wachs¹,

Georgieff²,

Cusick³

et al. 2015

Prenatal and Childhood Nutrition

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A central issue when designing multi-dimensional biological and psychosocial interventions for children who are exposed to multiple developmental risks is identification of the age period(s) in which such interventions will have the strongest and longest lasting impact (sensitive periods). In this paper we review nutritional, neuroscience and psychological evidence on this issue. Nutritional evidence is used to identify nutrient sensitive periods of age-linked dimensions of brain development, with specific reference to iron deficiency. Neuroscience evidence is used to assess the importance of timing of exposures to environmental stressors for maintaining neural, neuroendocrine and immune systems integrity. Psychological evidence illustrates the sensitivity of cognitive and social-emotional development to contextual risk and protective influences encountered at different ages. Evidence reviewed documents that the early years of life are a sensitive period where biological or psychosocial interventions or exposure to risk or protective contextual influences can produce unique long-term influences upon human brain, neuroendocrine and cognitive or psychosocial development. However, the evidence does not identify the early years as the sole sensitive time period within which to have a significant influence upon development. Choice of age(s) to initiate interventions should be based on what outcomes are targeted and what interventions are used.

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Sierra Leone’s Former Child Soldiers: A Follow‐Up Study of Psychosocial Adjustment and Community Reintegration

Cited by 207 publications

References 53 publications

Sierra Leone's Former Child Soldiers: A Longitudinal Study of Risk, Protective Factors, and Mental Health

Sierra Leone's Former Child Soldiers: A Longitudinal Study of Risk, Protective Factors, and Mental Health

Examining Bidirectional Pathways Between Exposure to Political Violence and Adolescent Adjustment in Northern Ireland

Issues in the Timing of Integrated Early Interventions: Contributions from Nutrition, Neuroscience, and Psychological Research

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