Predisplacement and Postdisplacement Factors Associated With Mental Health of Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons: A Meta-analysis
Abstract
Context The global refugee crisis requires that researchers, policymakers, and clinicians comprehend the magnitude of the psychological consequences of forced displacement and the factors that moderate them. To date, no empirical synthesis of research on these issues has been undertaken. Objective To meta-analytically establish the extent of compromised mental health among refugees (including internally displaced persons, asylum seekers, and stateless persons) using a worldwide study sample. Potential moderators of mental health outcomes were examined, including enduring contextual variables (eg, postdisplacement accommodation and economic opportunity) and refugee characteristics. Data sources Published studies (1959-2002) were obtained using broad searches of computerized databases (PsycINFO and PILOTS), manual searches of reference lists, and interviews with prominent authors. Study selection Studies were selected if they investigated a refugee group and at least 1 nonrefugee comparison group and reported 1 or more quantitative group comparison on measures of psychopathology. Fifty-six reports met inclusion criteria (4.4% of identified reports), yielding 59 independent comparisons and including 67,294 participants (22,221 refugees and 45,073 nonrefugees). Data extraction Data on study and report characteristics, study participant characteristics, and statistical outcomes were extracted using a coding manual and subjected to blind recoding, which indicated high reliability.…
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Living in uncertainty, punitive asylum protocols, and prolonged wait times for protective status adjudications could compound the effects of trauma exposure and mental health sequelae and are likely to affect trauma transmission.
“Acknowledgement of these contextual factors is imperative given that living in uncertainty, punitive asylum protocols, and prolonged wait times for protective status adjudications could compound the effects of trauma exposure and mental health sequelae (Porter & Haslam, 2005) and are likely to affect trauma transmission.”
From Crossing borders: a systematic review identifying potential mechanisms of intergenerational trauma transmission in asylum-seeking and refugee families (2020) · cites this paper as Porter & Haslam, 2005
Previous findings have suggested generally worse mental health for female refugees, but this pattern was not replicated in our study.
“Previous findings have suggested generally worse mental health for female refugees (Porter and Haslam, 2005), but this pattern was not replicated in our study.”
From Refugees versus persons family reunified to a refugee: A comparison of sociodemographic factors, trauma history, baseline psychopathology and treatment effectiveness (2023) · cites this paper as Porter and Haslam, 2005
Cites
Quantifying heterogeneity in a meta‐analysis
Higgins, J. P. T., & Thompson, S. G. (2002) · Statistics in Medicine · doi:10.1002/sim.1186 · Cited by 36,763 · see citing works
Operating characteristics of a rank correlation test for publication bias
Begg, C. B., & Mazumdar, M. (1994) · Biometrics · doi:10.2307/2533446 · Cited by 16,955 · see citing works
The file drawer problem and tolerance for null results.
Rosenthal, R. (1979) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.86.3.638 · Cited by 9,068 · see citing works
Primary, Secondary, and Meta-Analysis of Research
GLASS, G. V. (1976) · Educational Researcher · doi:10.3102/0013189x005010003 · Cited by 4,890 · see citing works
Resilience in the Face of Catastrophe: Optimism, Personality, and Coping in the Kosovo Crisis
Riolli, L., Savicki, V., & Cepani, A. (2002) · Journal of Applied Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.2002.tb02765.x · Cited by 2,166 · see citing works
Psychological responses to war and atrocity: The limitations of current concepts
Bracken, P. J., Giller, J. E., & Summerfield, D. (1995) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/0277-9536(94)00181-r · Cited by 571 · see citing works
Measuring Trauma and Health Status in Refugees: A Critical Review
Hollifield, M., Warner, T. D., Lian, N., Krakow, B., Jenkins, J. H., Kesler, J., Stevenson, J., & Westermeyer, J. (2002) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.288.5.611 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Steel, Z., Chey, T., Silove, D., Marnane, C., Bryant, R. A., & van Ommeren, M. (2009) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.2009.1132 · Cited by 2,246 · see citing works
Resources for mental health: scarcity, inequity, and inefficiency
Saxena, S., Thornicroft, G., Knapp, M., & Whiteford, H. (2007) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(07)61239-2 · Cited by 1,789 · see citing works
Miller, K. E., & Rasmussen, A. (2010) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.09.029 · Cited by 1,524 · see citing works
Lund, C., Brooke-Sumner, C., Baingana, F., Baron, E. C., Breuer, E., Chandra, P., Haushofer, J., Herrman, H., Jordans, M., Kieling, C., et al. (2018) · The Lancet Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s2215-0366(18)30060-9 · Cited by 1,147 · see citing works
Long-term mental health of war-refugees: a systematic literature review
Bogic, M., Njoku, A., & Priebe, S. (2015) · BMC International Health and Human Rights · doi:10.1186/s12914-015-0064-9 · Cited by 1,166 · see citing works
Blackmore, R., Boyle, J. A., Fazel, M., Ranasinha, S., Gray, K. M., Fitzgerald, G., Misso, M., & Gibson-Helm, M. (2020) · PLOS Medicine · doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1003337 · Cited by 949 · see citing works
The contemporary refugee crisis: an overview of mental health challenges
Silove, D., Ventevogel, P., & Rees, S. (2017) · World Psychiatry · doi:10.1002/wps.20438 · Cited by 775 · see citing works
Li, S. S. Y., Liddell, B. J., & Nickerson, A. (2016) · Current Psychiatry Reports · doi:10.1007/s11920-016-0723-0 · Cited by 746 · see citing works
The Social Determinants of Refugee Mental Health in the Post-Migration Context: A Critical Review
Hynie, M. (2018) · The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1177/0706743717746666 · Cited by 659 · see citing works
Psychological distress in refugee children: a systematic review
Bronstein, I., & Montgomery, P. (2011) · Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review · doi:10.1007/s10567-010-0081-0 · Cited by 634 · see citing works
Hope, despair and transformation: Climate change and the promotion of mental health and wellbeing
Fritze, J. G., Blashki, G. A., Burke, S., & Wiseman, J. (2008) · International Journal of Mental Health Systems · doi:10.1186/1752-4458-2-13 · Cited by 602 · see citing works
Satinsky, E., Fuhr, D. C., Woodward, A., Sondorp, E., & Roberts, B. (2019) · Health Policy · doi:10.1016/j.healthpol.2019.02.007 · Cited by 539 · see citing works
Lawrance, E. L., Thompson, R., Newberry Le Vay, J., Page, L., & Jennings, N. (2022) · International Review of Psychiatry · doi:10.1080/09540261.2022.2128725 · Cited by 500 · see citing works
A critical review of psychological treatments of posttraumatic stress disorder in refugees
Nickerson, A., Bryant, R. A., Silove, D., & Steel, Z. (2011) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2010.10.004 · Cited by 457 · see citing works
Mental health implications of detaining asylum seekers: systematic review
Robjant, K., Hassan, R., & Katona, C. (2009) · British Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.108.053223 · Cited by 409 · see citing works
The emerging evidence for Narrative Exposure Therapy: A review
Robjant, K., & Fazel, M. (2010) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2010.07.004 · Cited by 397 · see citing works
Betancourt, T. S., Abdi, S., Ito, B. S., Lilienthal, G. M., Agalab, N., & Ellis, H. (2015) · Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0037538 · Cited by 374 · see citing works
Post-traumatic stress disorder among Syrian refugees in Turkey: A cross-sectional study
Alpak, G., Unal, A., Bulbul, F., Sagaltici, E., Bez, Y., Altindag, A., Dalkilic, A., & Savas, H. A. (2015) · International Journal of Psychiatry in Clinical Practice · doi:10.3109/13651501.2014.961930 · Cited by 368 · see citing works
Morina, N., Akhtar, A., Barth, J., & Schnyder, U. (2018) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00433 · Cited by 339 · see citing works
A meta-analysis of risk factors for depression in adults and children after natural disasters
Tang, B., Liu, X., Liu, Y., Xue, C., & Zhang, L. (2014) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/1471-2458-14-623 · Cited by 333 · see citing works
Siriwardhana, C., Ali, S. S., Roberts, B., & Stewart, R. (2014) · Conflict and Health · doi:10.1186/1752-1505-8-13 · Cited by 299 · see citing works
Tang, B., Deng, Q., Glik, D., Dong, J., & Zhang, L. (2017) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph14121537 · Cited by 299 · see citing works
Bogic, M., Ajdukovic, D., Bremner, S., Franciskovic, T., Galeazzi, G. M., Kucukalic, A., Lecic-Tosevski, D., Morina, N., Popovski, M., Schützwohl, M., et al. (2012) · British Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.110.084764 · Cited by 283 · see citing works
Crumlish, N., & O'Rourke, K. (2010) · Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease · doi:10.1097/nmd.0b013e3181d61258 · Cited by 264 · see citing works
Ecological Grief as a Response to Environmental Change: A Mental Health Risk or Functional Response?
Comtesse, H., Ertl, V., Hengst, S. M. C., Rosner, R., & Smid, G. E. (2021) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph18020734 · Cited by 244 · see citing works
Hollander, A.-C., Dal, H., Lewis, G., Magnusson, C., Kirkbride, J. B., & Dalman, C. (2016) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.i1030 · Cited by 240 · see citing works
Schick, M., Zumwald, A., Knöpfli, B., Nickerson, A., Bryant, R. A., Schnyder, U., Müller, J., & Morina, N. (2016) · European Journal of Psychotraumatology · doi:10.3402/ejpt.v7.28057 · Cited by 233 · see citing works
Fussell, E., & Lowe, S. R. (2014) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.05.025 · Cited by 190 · see citing works
Heeren, M., Wittmann, L., Ehlert, U., Schnyder, U., Maier, T., & Müller, J. (2014) · Comprehensive Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.comppsych.2014.02.003 · Cited by 185 · see citing works
Psychological Distress in Afghan Refugees: A Mixed-Method Systematic Review
Alemi, Q., James, S., Cruz, R., Zepeda, V., & Racadio, M. (2014) · Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health · doi:10.1007/s10903-013-9861-1 · Cited by 170 · see citing works
Acarturk, C., Konuk, E., Cetinkaya, M., Senay, I., Sijbrandij, M., Gulen, B., & Cuijpers, P. (2016) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291716001070 · Cited by 165 · see citing works
Leiler, A., Bjärtå, A., Ekdahl, J., & Wasteson, E. (2019) · Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology · doi:10.1007/s00127-018-1651-6 · Cited by 155 · see citing works
Forced migration and mental health: prolonged internal displacement, return migration and resilience
Siriwardhana, C., & Stewart, R. (2013) · International Health · doi:10.1093/inthealth/ihs014 · Cited by 148 · see citing works
Resettled Refugee Families and Their Children’s Futures: Coherence, Hope and Support
Atwell, R., Gifford, S. M., & McDonald-Wilmsen, B. (2009) · Journal of Comparative Family Studies · doi:10.3138/jcfs.40.5.677 · Cited by 142 · see citing works
Nickerson, A., Bryant, R. A., Schnyder, U., Schick, M., Mueller, J., & Morina, N. (2015) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jad.2014.10.043 · Cited by 141 · see citing works
PTSD in asylum-seeking male adolescents from Afghanistan
Bronstein, I., Montgomery, P., & Dobrowolski, S. (2012) · Journal of Traumatic Stress · doi:10.1002/jts.21740 · Cited by 121 · see citing works
Health status among internally displaced persons in Louisiana and Mississippi travel trailer parks
Larrance, R., Anastario, M., & Lawry, L. (2007) · Annals of Emergency Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.annemergmed.2006.12.004 · Cited by 114 · see citing works
Acarturk, C., McGrath, M., Roberts, B., Ilkkursun, Z., Cuijpers, P., Sijbrandij, M., Sondorp, E., Ventevogel, P., McKee, M., Fuhr, D. C., et al. (2021) · Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology · doi:10.1007/s00127-020-01941-6 · Cited by 115 · see citing works
McFarlane, C. A., & Kaplan, I. (2012) · Transcultural Psychiatry · doi:10.1177/1363461512447608 · Cited by 113 · see citing works
Hendrickx, M., Woodward, A., Fuhr, D. C., Sondorp, E., & Roberts, B. (2020) · Journal of Public Health · doi:10.1093/pubmed/fdz097 · Cited by 113 · see citing works
Bronstein, I., Montgomery, P., & Ott, E. (2013) · European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry · doi:10.1007/s00787-012-0344-z · Cited by 107 · see citing works
Flanagan, N., Travers, A., Vallières, F., Hansen, M., Halpin, R., Sheaf, G., Rottmann, N., & Johnsen, A. T. (2020) · European Journal of Psychotraumatology · doi:10.1080/20008198.2020.1790283 · Cited by 97 · see citing works
“…contextual factors is imperative given that living in uncertainty, punitive asylum protocols, and prolonged wait times for protective status adjudications could compound the effects of trauma exposure and mental health sequelae (Porter & Haslam, 2005) and are likely to affect trauma transmission.”
BackgroundAkinyemi, O. O., Owoaje, E. T., Ige, O. K., & Popoola, O. A. (2012) · BMC Research Notes · doi:10.1186/1756-0500-5-394 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
Killikelly, C., Bauer, S., & Maercker, A. (2018) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01957 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
Yelland, J., Riggs, E., Wahidi, S., Fouladi, F., Casey, S., Szwarc, J., Duell-Piening, P., Chesters, D., & Brown, S. (2014) · BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth · doi:10.1186/1471-2393-14-348 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Psychosocial predictors of treatment outcome for trauma-affected refugees
Sonne, C., Carlsson, J., Bech, P., Vindbjerg, E., Mortensen, E. L., & Elklit, A. (2016) · European Journal of Psychotraumatology · doi:10.3402/ejpt.v7.30907 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Makhashvili, N., Chikovani, I., McKee, M., Bisson, J., Patel, V., & Roberts, B. (2014) · Journal of Traumatic Stress · doi:10.1002/jts.21949 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Yaser, A., Slewa-Younan, S., Smith, C. A., Olson, R. E., Guajardo, M. G. U., & Mond, J. (2016) · International Journal of Mental Health Systems · doi:10.1186/s13033-016-0065-7 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
van Wyk, S., Schweitzer, R., Brough, M., Vromans, L., & Murray, K. (2012) · Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1177/0004867412443059 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
Lindegaard, T., Seaton, F., Halaj, A., Berg, M., Kashoush, F., Barchini, R., Ludvigsson, M., Sarkohi, A., & Andersson, G. (2021) · Cognitive Behaviour Therapy · doi:10.1080/16506073.2020.1771414 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
Nonpathological response to ongoing traumatic stress.
Diamond, G. M., Lipsitz, J. D., & Hoffman, Y. (2013) · Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0032486 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Exploring maternity care for asylum seekers and refugees
Briscoe, L., & Lavender, T. (2009) · British Journal of Midwifery · doi:10.12968/bjom.2009.17.1.37649 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Massey, E., Smith, J., & Roberts, B. (2017) · Conflict and Health · doi:10.1186/s13031-017-0133-x · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Nikendei, C., Kindermann, D., Brandenburg-Ceynowa, H., Derreza-Greeven, C., Zeyher, V., Junne, F., Friederich, H.-C., & Bozorgmehr, K. (2019) · Health Policy · doi:10.1016/j.healthpol.2019.07.008 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Somali Women's Reflections on the Adjustment of Their Children in the United States
Nilsson, J. E., Barazanji, D. M., Heintzelman, A., Siddiqi, M., & Shilla, Y. (2012) · Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development · doi:10.1002/j.2161-1912.2012.00021.x · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Managing Chronic Pain in Survivors of Torture
Amris, K., & Williams, A. C. D. C. (2015) · Pain Management · doi:10.2217/pmt.14.50 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Murphy, A., Chikovani, I., Uchaneishvili, M., Makhashvili, N., & Roberts, B. (2018) · BMC Health Services Research · doi:10.1186/s12913-018-3113-y · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Mental health outcomes in Syrian refugees: A systematic review
Sá, F. H. D. L., Waikamp, V., Freitas, L. H. M., & Baeza, F. L. C. (2022) · International Journal of Social Psychiatry · doi:10.1177/00207640221099404 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Van der Gucht, K., Glas, J., De Haene, L., Kuppens, P., & Raes, F. (2019) · Journal of Child and Family Studies · doi:10.1007/s10826-019-01336-5 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Lin, S. (., Kobayashi, K., Tong, H., Davison, K. M., Arora, S. R. A., & Fuller-Thomson, E. (2020) · Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health · doi:10.1007/s10903-020-00980-0 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Lahiri, S., van Ommeren, M., & Roberts, B. (2017) · Global Public Health · doi:10.1080/17441692.2016.1154585 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Trauma and Depression among North Korean Refugees: The Mediating Effect of Negative Cognition
Park, S., Lee, Y., & Jun, J. (2018) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph15040591 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Health-Related Quality of Life Among Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Northern Greece
Beza, S., Mavrodi, A. G., Kyratso, G., & Aletras, V. H. (2022) · Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health · doi:10.1007/s10903-021-01199-3 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Parenting in a New Land: Specialized Services for Immigrant and Refugee Families in the USA
Critelli, F. M. (2015) · Journal of International Migration and Integration · doi:10.1007/s12134-014-0359-z · Cited by 20 · see citing works
The Multidimensional Loss Scale: Validating a Cross-Cultural Instrument for Measuring Loss
Vromans, L., Schweitzer, R. D., & Brough, M. (2012) · Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease · doi:10.1097/nmd.0b013e31824cc458 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Silove, D. M., Tay, A. K., Steel, Z., Tam, N., Soares, Z., Soares, C., dos Reis, N., Alves, A., & Rees, S. (2017) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291716002233 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Kelly, A., Nel, P. W., & Nolte, L. (2016) · European Journal of Psychotherapy & Counselling · doi:10.1080/13642537.2016.1214160 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Jelousi, S., Sharma, D., Alexis, A., & Murase, J. E. (2022) · Dermatology and Therapy · doi:10.1007/s13555-022-00823-w · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Screening for Depression and Anxiety Symptoms among a Sample of Working Syrian Refugees in Egypt
(2020) · The Egyptian Journal of Community Medicine · doi:10.21608/ejcm.2020.68625 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Lange, A. B., Mortensen, E. L., Palic, S., Sonne, C. K., & Carlsson, J. (2023) · Journal of Affective Disorders Reports · doi:10.1016/j.jadr.2023.100586 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Identifying resilience-promoting factors for refugee survivors of torture
Pannu, P., Burt, K., & Fondacaro, K. (2022) · Torture Journal · doi:10.7146/torture.v32i3.128843 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
- Authors
- Porter, M., & Haslam, N.
- Affiliations
- Columbia University Irving Medical Center (US)
- The University of Melbourne (AU)
- ORCID
- Haslam, Nick
- Venue
- JAMA
- Publisher
- American Medical Association (AMA)
- Published
- 2005-08-03
- Volume
- 294
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 602
- ISSN
- 0002-9955 (ISSN-L)
- 0098-7484
- OpenAlex
- W2139358896
- Cited by
- 1,793
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 91 · 2025: 93 · 2024: 126 · 2023: 106 · 2022: 159 · 2021: 152 · 2020: 162 · 2019: 111 · 2018: 110 · 2017: 116 · 2016: 86 · 2015: 83 · 2014: 74 · 2013: 48 · 2012: 67
- FWCI
- 27.94
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- JAMA (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Migration, Health and Trauma
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Migration and Exile Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Keywords
- refugees, internally displaced persons, asylum seekers, stateless persons, forced displacement, mental health, psychopathology, institutional accommodation, economic opportunities, repatriation, unresolved conflicts
- MeSH terms
- Mental Disorders, Emigration and Immigration, Humans, Mental Health, Refugees
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
