Resilience, faith, and social supports among migrants and refugees from Central America and Mexico

ABSTRACT

Migrants flee violence, extortion, assault and kidnapping in Central America and Mexico to make the dangerous journey to the U.S. – Mexico border. They experience trauma and adversity at each stage of the journey – prior to departure, enroute, and upon arrival at the border. This mixed methods research project examines protective factors that mediate trauma and support quality of life among migrants. Despite high levels of post-traumatic stress, migrants score high on measures of resilience and quality of life. Participants expressed high levels of religiosity and utilize faith as a coping strategy to lend meaning to their hardship and suffering.

KEYWORDS:

• Migration
• resilience
• faith
• trauma

Disclosure statement

This is to acknowledge no financial interest or benefit to the authors has arisen from the direct applications of this research.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Programa de Investigación de Migracion y Salud (PIMSA) of the University of California at Berkeley under Grant [OR20170368]. This research project was approved by the Institutional Review Board [IRB] of the University of Texas at El Paso [1148367-2].