engleski

Searching for Identity in a Changing World : a cross cultural study of displaced adolescents in post-conflict countries

The book represents an international comparative study on risk and protective factors of adolescent health and well being, with particular focus on youth with refugee (or immigrant) experience. Related to the quality of life and health outcomes of adolescent youth it looks at group-specific differences within different socio-cultural contexts across six European countries, including those with high long-term immigration rates and those of post-conflict communities. It combines both quantitative (survey) and qualitative methods (in-depth interviews), using a common set-up across all countries involved with the goal of collecting comparable data on adolescents to allow cross-country analyses. The general objective of the research is to strengthen the understanding of psychological risk and protective factors of socio-cultural integration of adolescent refugees who face particular challenges: those common to most adolescents and those experienced after traumatic events by newcomers to a country, related to their physical and psychosocial health, their educational opportunities, their cultural traditions and their legal rights. The consideration of the interaction of both developmental intra-personal and inter-personal factors of adolescent integration, as well as its broader ideological, cultural and socio-economic context in particular countries, is expected to help to detect mechanisms that can counterbalance health hazards of "sequential traumatization", and to implement more efficient preventive mental health rehabilitation programs for these particularly vulnerable victims of post-conflict communities. An international standard version of protective and risk factor screening survey as a tool to identify adolescents who may benefit from medical or mental health services was developed. It provides data on the interactive influence of main risk and protective factors identified in different domains, including community, school, family, the peer group, and the individual as well as its consequences on youth outcomes in terms of general health and behaviour as well as psychological distress, well-being, and resilience. The total sample collected in all countries involved amounts to over 4800 adolescents who completed the core survey questionnaire in schools. The obtained results provide important empirical data on the most salient problems connected to psychosocial adjustment and experience of adolescent immigrants and refugees in six countries of resettlement. The study has identified a range of specific risk and protective factors associated with various settings (family, school, community) and additional to those recognized as relevant to adolescents generally, which are uncovering a complex interaction between the young person, their family, and their social, economic and cultural environments.

anthropology; adolescents; physical health; psychosocial health; migration; refugees; acculturation

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