The Swedish Police Service’s deportations of unaccompanied, asylum-seeking refugee children: The role of coping and general mental health

Figures & data

Table 1. Factor analysis

Item #	Item	F&L	Factor	Factor loading
60	I prayed	PR	EA	0.8115
33	Tried to make myself feel better by eating, drinking, smoking, using drugs or medication, etc	EA	EA	0.7267
47	Took it out on other people	EA	EA	0.7244
57	I daydreamed or imagined a better time or place than the one I was in	N/A	EA	0.6767
32	Got away from it for a while; tried to rest or take a vacation	N/A	EA	0.6246
50	Refused to believe that it had happened	EA	EA	0.6222
36	Found new faith	PR	EA	0.5968
40	Avoided being with people in general	EA	EA	0.5949
59	Had fantasies or wishes about how things might turn out	EA	EA	0.5866
34	Took a big chance or did something very risky	CC	EA	0.5584
51	I made a promise to myself that things would be different next time	AR	EA	0.4609
56	I changed something about myself	PR	EA	0.4255
17	I expressed anger to the person(s) who caused the problem	CC	EA	0.4186
22	I got professional help	SSS	EA	0.3883
11	Hoped a miracle would happen	EA	EA	0.3506
16	Slept more than usual	EA	EA	0.3373
25	I apologized or did something to make up	AR	EA	0.3198
7	Tried to get the person responsible to change his or her mind	CC	PPS	0.7268
10	Tried not to burn my bridges, but leave things open somewhat	SC	PPS	0.6721
8	Talked to someone to find out more about the situation	SSS	PPS	0.6269
31	Talked to someone who could do something concrete about the problem	SSS	PPS	0.5409
52	Came up with a couple of different solutions to the problem	PPS	PPS	0.5325
46	Stood my ground and fought for what I wanted	CC	PPS	0.4825
39	Changed something so things would turn out all right	PPS	PPS	0.3755
62	I went over in my mind what I would say or do	SC	SC	0.6688
64	I tried to see things from the other person’s point of view	N/A	SC	0.6378
61	I prepared myself for the worst	N/A	SC	0.6265
45	Talked to someone about how I was feeling	SSS	SC	0.5854
48	Drew on my past experiences; I was in a similar situation before	PPS	SC	0.5699
19	I told myself things that helped me to feel better	N/A	SC	0.5230
35	I tried not to act too hastily or follow my first hunch	SC	SC	0.4974
65	I reminded myself how much worse things could be	N/A	SC	0.4854
49	I knew what had to be done, so I doubled my efforts to make things work	PPS	SC	0.4848
55	Wished that I could change what had happened or how I felt	N/A	SC	0.4619
66	I jogged or exercised	N/A	SC	0.4478
63	I thought about how a person I admire would handle this situation and used that as a model	SC	SC	0.4037
54	I tried to keep my feelings from interfering with other things too much	SC	SC	0.3700
58	Wished that the situation would go away or somehow be over with	EA	SC	0.3534
14	I tried to keep my feelings to myself	SC	D	0.6709
37	Maintained my pride and kept a stiff upper lip	N/A	D	0.6421
21	Tried to forget the whole thing	D	D	0.5655
41	Didn’t let it get to me; refused to think too much about it	D	D	0.5571
43	Kept others from knowing how bad things were	N/A	D	0.5429
4	I felt that time would make a difference—the only thing to do was to wait	N/A	D	0.4683
13	Went on as if nothing had happened	D	D	0.4488
3	Turned to work or substitute activity to take my mind off things	N/A	D	0.4365
44	Made light of the situation; refused to get too serious about it	D	D	0.4358
12	Went along with fate; sometimes I just have bad luck	D	D	0.3835
24	I waited to see what would happen before doing anything	N/A	D	0.3489
15	Looked for the silver lining, so to speak; tried to look on the bright side of things	D	PR	0.5883
23	Changed or grew as a person in a good way	PR	PR	0.5276
30	I came out of the experience better than when I went in	PR	PR	0.5101
29	Realized I brought the problem on myself	AR	PR	0.4406
20	I was inspired to do something creative	PR	PR	0.4221
27	I accepted the next best thing to what I wanted	N/A	PR	0.3102

Notes: F&L = factor labels from the solution of Folkman and Lazarus (1988); factor = factor label current study; PPS = planful problem solving; EA = escape-avoidance; D = distancing; SSS = seeking social support; CC = confrontive coping; SC = self-control; AR = accepting responsibility; PR = positive reappraisal.

Table 2. Characteristics of the study participants, by experience with UARC

Independent variable	Experience with UARC	Experience with UARC	p-value
	Yes	No
N	157	553
Age mean ± SD years	44 (11.61)	41 (11.10)	0.011
Gender %males	74.2	67.3	0.100
Marital status %married	78.2	84.0	0.089
Work experience mean ± SD years	18 (13.94)	15 (12.95)	0.014
Education level %university degree	18.8	16.5	0.505
Duty %patrolling	58.4	57.9	0.908
Work schedule %shift work	51.3	51.0	0.950
Psychological disturbance %yes	32.9	27.1	0.167
Escape-avoidance mean ± SD	0.41 (0.42)	0.58 (0.41)	<0.001
Planful problem-solving mean ± SD	1.02 (0.68)	1.22 (0.64)	<0.001
Self-control mean ± SD	1.44 (0.58)	1.64 (0.52)	<0.001
Distancing mean ± SD	1.05 (0.46)	1.13 (0.46)	0.050
Positive reappraisal mean ± SD	1.37 (0.58)	1.39 (0.52)	0.649

Notes: UARC = unaccompanied, asylum-seeking refugee children; SD = standard deviation.

Table 3. Characteristics of the study participants, by psychological disturbance

Independent variable	Psychological disturbance	Psychological disturbance	p-value
	Yes	No
N	199	500
Age mean ± SD years	41 (11.05)	42 (11.31)	0.160
Gender %males	64.3	71.1	0.080
Marital status %married	76.3	86.0	0.001
Work experience mean ± SD years	14 (12.68)	16 (13.41)	0.070
Education level %university degree	18.8	16.5	0.479
Duty %patrolling	61.1	56.3	0.245
Work schedule %shift work	59.1	47.7	0.007
Experience of UARC %yes	25.0	20.2	0.167
Escape-avoidance mean ± SD	0.62 (0.43)	0.51 (0.41)	0.004
Planful problem solving mean ± SD	1.19 (0.64)	1.18 (0.66)	0.763
Self-control mean ± SD	1.71 (0.52)	1.57 (0.54)	0.003
Distancing mean ± SD	1.17 (0.49)	1.10 (0.45)	0.059
Positive reappraisal mean ± SD	1.35 (0.53)	1.40 (0.53)	0.299

Notes: UARC = unaccompanied, asylum-seeking refugee children; SD = standard deviation.

Table 4. Logistic regression models for psychological disturbance among police officers

Independent variables	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3
	OR (95% CI)	OR (95% CI)	OR (95% CI)
Experience with UARC (ref = no)	1.317 (0.891–1.946)	1.311 (0.861–1.995)	1.380 (0.870–2.189)
Age	0.989 (0.975–1.004)	1.017 (0.977–1.057)	1.027 (0.984–1.071)
Gender (ref = male)	1.356 (0.963–1.936)	1.262 (0.864–1844)	1.201 (0.794–1.817)
Marital status (ref = married)	2.015 (1.338–3.037)**	1.894 (1.229–2.919)**	1.778 (1.117–2.832)*
Work experience	0.999 (0.998–1.000)	0.999 (0.996–1.001)	0.999 (0.996–1.002)
Education level (ref = no university degree)	0.857 (0.558–1.315)	0.917 (0.577–1.456)	0.863 (0.531–1.403)
Duty (ref = not patrol)	1.221 (0.872–1.709)	0.695 (0.395–1.221)	0.734 (0.408–1.323)
Work schedule (ref = days)	1.584 (1.131–2.219)**	1.958 (1.108–3.460)*	1.973 (1.083–3.594)*
Escape-avoidance	1.764 (1.192–2.610)**		2.321 (1.260–4.277)**
Planful problem solving	1.040 (0.805–1.343)		0.750 (0.491–1.146)
Self-control	1.639 (1.170–2.295)**		1.743 (1.086–2.797)*
Distancing	1.419 (0.985–2.045)		1.176 (0.743–1.860)
Positive reappraisal	0.847 (0.618–1.159)		0.612 (0.394–0.950)*

Notes: UARC = unaccompanied, asylum-seeking refugee children; OR = odds ratio; CI = confidence interval.

Age, work experience are continuous variables with no reference group.

Model 1: Crude OR; Model 2: Model 1 + sociodemographic variables; Model 3: Model 1 + sociodemographic variables + co.

* p < 0.05.

** p < 0.01.

*** p < 0.001.

Folkman, S., & Lazarus, R. S. (1988). Ways of coping (manual). Palo Alto: Mind Garden.

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