The Mediating Role of Social Stigma Anxiety Related to Seeking Psychological Help in the Relationship Between the Impact of Traumas and Self-Disclosure in Syrian Refugees

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to examine the mediating role of social stigma in the relationship between the effects of traumas to which Syrian refugees have been exposed and their self-disclosure expectations. The study included 510 Syrians (218 women, 292 men) who sought refuge in Turkey since 2011. The analysis results of the path model in the study indicated that the created model had a perfect goodness of fit (χ²/df = 1.06, p = .371). Additionally, stigmatization was found to have a full mediating effect on anticipated utilities from hyperarousal and self-disclosure and a partial mediating effect on the anticipated risks of hyperarousal and self-disclosure. Stigmatization also exhibited no significant mediating effect on the avoidance and re-living sub-dimensions and utility and risk (GFI = .997, AGFI = .985, CFI = 1.0, and RMSEA = .011). It was observed that all components of PTSD had a negative relationship with self-disclosure utility expectations and a positive relationship with self-disclosure risk expectations. Consequently, it is evident that as the severity of traumatic experiences escalates, Syrian refugees perceive self-disclosure as increasingly risky.

KEYWORDS:

• Self-disclosure
• social stigma
• Syrian refugees
• trauma

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical standards and informed consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation Ondokuz Mayıs University Social and Human Sciences Research Ethics Committee and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.