‘Inoculated in pain’: examining resilience in refugee children in an attempt to elicit possible underlying psychological and ecological drivers of migration

ABSTRACT

Despite the prolonged and extreme environmental adversities and psychological trauma experienced by unaccompanied young refugees during their odyssey through the geographically and politically treacherous landscape, they have sometimes shown extraordinary psychological resilience, ability to function and recover from such ordeals. However, other than the anecdotal tales of their survival, there has not been much systematic scientific effort to explore this intriguing subject. In this paper, I endeavour to explore the links and underlying dynamics between resilience and migration. A total of 15 unaccompanied young persons and their carers were interviewed using a semi-structured schedule to elicit their perceptions and beliefs of the mental health care they received. The interview transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis to elicit several themes and sub-themes of findings, which were developed into possible theories to answer the research question. Some psychological traits and environmental factors may be important in the development of resilience to trauma and adversity. Faith in God, optimism, exposure to adversity and ability to grow up prematurely were found to be linked with their increased resilience. It is possible that these may have some universal implication in the human history of migration in general. Findings may help establish initial theories and stimulate interest to further explore this area.

KEYWORDS:

• Resilience
• trauma
• refugee
• refugee children
• migration
• human migration

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my gratitude to the participating young people, their carers and social workers without whom this project would not have been possible. I also extend thanks to the social workers and other professionals who made accessing the young persons possible.

Conflict of interest

The author declares that there is no financial interest or benefit arising from the direct applications of this research.

Notes on contributor

Dr Pallab Majumder is an Honorary (Consultant) Assistant Professor, University of Nottingham and a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist in the City Looked After Children's Team of the Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust. His research interests include mental health of looked after and unaccompanied refugee children and young people.

Additional information

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.