The Relationship Among Trauma, Acculturation, and Mental Health Symptoms in Somali Refugees

Jorgenson, Katherine C.; Nilsson, Johanna

doi:10.1177/0011000020968548

Cited by 20 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…The MPM embeds cultural mastery as a critical phase that helps resolve everyday adjustment problems such as daily monetary transactions, transportation, housing, language obstacles, social services, education, employment, and medical care (Chung & Bemak, 2012). Findings from the three studies in this issue were consistent in identifying environmental mastery as important during acculturation: Maung et al (2021) pointed to the importance of handling everyday life challenges; Jorgenson and Nilsson (2021) highlighted the need for mastering language and employment challenges; and Atari-Khan et al (2021) noted the critical need for developing resilience through the acquisition of new coping skills such as language acquisition and employment. In some cases, refugees may be underemployed or unemployed prior to postdisplacement, adding a more complex challenge in attaining cultural and environmental mastery.…”

Section: Phase Iii: Cultural Empowerment Via Social and Navigational mentioning

confidence: 63%

“…In addition, Atari-Khan et al's (2021) study of Syrian refugees finds that concerns about loved ones and the loss of social supports, relationships, and cultural identity contributes to postmigration stressors. Similarly, Maung et al's (2021) findings on Burmese refugees and Jorgenson and Nilsson's (2021) Somali refugee study note additional postmigration stressors of economic disadvantages, marginalization, and shifting gender roles. These postmigration challenges in building a new life and gaining familiarity, security, and safety in a new culture are significant, especially after fleeing from dangerous life threatening situations.…”

Section: Postmigration Transition and Resettlementmentioning

confidence: 95%

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Contemporary Refugees: Issues, Challenges, and a Culturally Responsive Intervention Model for Effective Practice

Bemak

Chung

2021

The Counseling Psychologist

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The vast number of worldwide refugees has caused a global refugee crisis, political turmoil, and heightened anxiety in resettlement countries, stimulating xenophobia and religious tensions. We provide an overview of the four articles in this Major Contribution as a foundation for describing contemporary issues, challenges, and present an effective culturally responsive model of intervention to work with present-day refugees.

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Section: Phase Iii: Cultural Empowerment Via Social and Navigational mentioning

confidence: 63%

Section: Postmigration Transition and Resettlementmentioning

confidence: 95%

Contemporary Refugees: Issues, Challenges, and a Culturally Responsive Intervention Model for Effective Practice

Bemak

Chung

2021

The Counseling Psychologist

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“…This group had long stays in refugee camps before arriving in Norway, and many experienced stressors related to separation from family, distress and trauma. (Horst, 2007;Jorgenson & Nilsson, 2021). Although the Somali population in Norway is highly diverse in terms of residency, migration experience and education, they are often described as a challenging group with regard to societal integration in general and integration in the labour market in particular (Fuglerud & Engebrigtsen, 2006;Hammond, 2013).…”

Section: Somalis' Marginalised Position In Norwaymentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond fear of child welfare services : An ethnographic study among Norwegian-Somali parents

Handulle¹

2022

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In many countries, migrants and ethnic minorities express fear of child welfare service (CWS). This is reflected in Norwegian research and media, where fear and mistrust surround the debate on migrants’ relationship with the agency. This thesis explores Norwegian Somalis’ fears of the Norwegian CWS in the context of their situation in Norway and their social world. While the relationship between the Norwegian CWS and several migrant groups is strained, we know little about how fears are constructed and perpetuated within migrant communities. Throughout my dissertation, I emphasise that migrants’ relations to CWS –whether fear factors into it or not – must be understood in light ofprocesses and dynamics far beyond CWS. We must pay attention to tight-knit ethnic communities, social networks, marginalised positions and transnational relations. My inquiry is guided by two core questions: How is the fear of CWS constructed among Norwegian-Somali parents, and how does the fear of CWS impact their everyday lives? These questions were explored through nine months of ethnography, seven months in Oslo and two months in Somalia among returnees from Norway. Fieldwork consisted of, inter alia, observations in cafés and shops, participation in seminars and mosques, participant observation in a transnational school in Somalia, informal conversations, formally organised focus groups and in-depth interviews with parents. The three articles comprising the empirical part of the dissertation cover the following topics. The first article explores how CWS fears among Norwegian-Somali parents are embedded in social networks and transmitted via stories of child removals. This paper provides extensive insight into the construction and perpetuation of fear. The analysis suggests a particular social process underlying Somali parents’ fears, which we coin ABCD, pertaining to (a) their socioeconomic adversities; (b)coping through bonding social capital; (c) children as a “lifeline”;and (d) (disproportionate) diffusion of child removal stories. The results demonstrate the importance of child removal stories that are transmitted through tight-knit social networks as well as why and how these stories spread. Paper 2 is about how second-generation Somali parents portray middle-class identity when interacting with school and kindergarten personnel to avoid racial scrutiny and referrals to CWS. The paper examines how CWS scepticism and fear extend far beyond direct interactions between caseworkers and clients. We show how scepticism and fear influence parents’ encounters with institutions like schools and kindergartens, as these are institutions that have the power and obligation to potentially report to CWS. The third paper addresses Norwegian-Somali returnees’ struggle for a sense of belonging in Norway and their worries regarding their children’s future. It highlights the complexity of being a marginalised migrant in Norway and the consequences thereof. I show that parents utilise temporary return as a tool to strengthen their dual belonging to both Somalia and Norway by reconstituting belonging to both countries through parenting in Somalia. The results reveal that parents cultivate and reproduce Norwegian cultural repertoires when in Somalia in order to maintain a belonging to Norway and to prepare for their future return to Norway, while concurrently encouraging their children to be proud of their Somaliness. In sum, the findings from my thesis imply that Somali parents’ fears of CWS are drawn not only from their perceptions of that single institution but also from their experiences as Somali parents in Norwegian society as a whole. I therefore argue that, if we are to understand CWS fears among migrant parents in general and Somali parents in particular, we must adopt a broader approach that understands parents’ everyday lives and whether and how their experiences relate to socioeconomic marginalisation, racism, coping and networking. I also argue that, to understand CWS fears, we need a bottom-up methodological approach. The in-depth ethnographic account of the Norwegian Somalis’ CWS fears, investigated bottom-up, remains this study’s main contribution.

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“…food insecurity, disrupted education) directly and indirectly affect depression (Gibbs et al, 2018). One recent study with Somali refugees in the U.S. revealed how acculturation factors may mediate the relationship between refugee trauma and mental health issues (Jorgenson & Nilsson, 2021). These studies suggest pathways and associations among trauma exposure, risk factors, and CMDs, although few have focused specifically on Somali refugee youth in the context of displacement in marginalized communities or LMICs.…”

Section: Associations Among Multiple Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trauma exposure, social functioning, and common mental health disorders in Somali refugee male and female youth: An SEM analysis

Swan

2021

Int J Soc Psychiatry

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Background: Refugee youth often face numerous adversities before and during forced migration. Although experiences vary across settings and subpopulations, common mental disorders are prevalent among refugee youth who are displaced in low- and middle-income countries. It is important to examine how risk factors are intricately linked and contribute to common mental health issues to inform clinical practice and social policy. Aims: This study aims to test the pathways from risk factors previously identified as determinants of Somali refugee youth mental health (i.e. trauma exposure, substance use, social functioning, aggression) to symptoms of PTSD, depression, anxiety, and somatic pains. Method: We collected survey data in 2013, using snowball sampling to recruit Somali refugee youth (15–35 years old) living in Eastleigh, Kenya. We ran three structural equation models to assess paths from trauma exposure to mental health symptoms, through psychosocial factors including substance use, aggression, and functional impairment. We first conducted this analysis with a mixed-gender sample ( N = 305) and then assessed gender differences by running one model for male participants ( n = 124) and another for female participants ( n = 181). Results: In the mixed-gender sample, trauma exposure directly predicted substance use and both directly and indirectly predicted aggression, functional impairment, and mental health symptoms. Substance use directly predicted aggression and functional impairment, and substance use both directly and indirectly predicted mental health symptoms. The split-gender models revealed gender differences, with only functional impairment directly predicting mental health symptoms in the male sample and with many significant direct and indirect pathways in the female sample. Conclusions: This study shows the role of trauma exposure, substance use, aggression, and social functioning in determining mental health outcomes among refugee youth and how CMD symptoms are differently manifested across genders in this population.

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The Relationship Among Trauma, Acculturation, and Mental Health Symptoms in Somali Refugees

Cited by 20 publications

References 57 publications

Contemporary Refugees: Issues, Challenges, and a Culturally Responsive Intervention Model for Effective Practice

Contemporary Refugees: Issues, Challenges, and a Culturally Responsive Intervention Model for Effective Practice

Beyond fear of child welfare services : An ethnographic study among Norwegian-Somali parents

Trauma exposure, social functioning, and common mental health disorders in Somali refugee male and female youth: An SEM analysis

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