TY - JOUR

T1 - Refugee children's mental health and development - A public health problem in Europe

AU - de Montgomery, Edith Elise

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Knowledge about refugee children's mental health has developed considerably during the last 30 years. From believing that children's reactions largely depend on their parents, it has become clear that children are influ-enced both by their own experiences, by the reactions of their caregivers and by the social environment in which they live. While psy-chological problems are frequent in children close to arrival in exile, follow-up studies have shown that the magnitude of the problems is reduced over time. Aspects of social life as well as stressful events in exile seem to be of paramount importance for children's ability to recover from early traumatization. Pro-longed asylum procedures, temporary resi-dence permits, delayed family reunifications, many school-moves and xenophobic attitudes is counteracting healthy development. The results of research on refugee children and youth indicate the existence of a large public health problem which calls for policy change and political action.

AB - Knowledge about refugee children's mental health has developed considerably during the last 30 years. From believing that children's reactions largely depend on their parents, it has become clear that children are influ-enced both by their own experiences, by the reactions of their caregivers and by the social environment in which they live. While psy-chological problems are frequent in children close to arrival in exile, follow-up studies have shown that the magnitude of the problems is reduced over time. Aspects of social life as well as stressful events in exile seem to be of paramount importance for children's ability to recover from early traumatization. Pro-longed asylum procedures, temporary resi-dence permits, delayed family reunifications, many school-moves and xenophobic attitudes is counteracting healthy development. The results of research on refugee children and youth indicate the existence of a large public health problem which calls for policy change and political action.

U2 - 10.7146/torture.v32i1-2.131756

DO - 10.7146/torture.v32i1-2.131756

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 35950430

VL - 32

SP - 163

EP - 171

JO - Torture : quarterly journal on rehabilitation of torture victims and prevention of torture

JF - Torture : quarterly journal on rehabilitation of torture victims and prevention of torture

SN - 1018-8185

IS - 1-2

ER -