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Cited by 58Migration, Health and TraumaMigration and Exile StudiesEducation and experiences of immigrants and refugees

“Children Are Not Children Anymore; They Are a Lost Generation”: Adverse Physical and Mental Health Consequences on Syrian Refugee Children

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Rizkalla, Niveen, Mallat, Nour K., Arafa, Rahma, Adi, Suher, Soudi, Laila, Segal, Steven P.·2020·International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
DOI 10.3390/ijerph17228378PMC PMC7696198
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Abstract

This research examines Syrian refugee mothers’ accounts of the physical and mental health of their children being affected by war traumas and displacement challenges. Open-ended audio-recorded interviews were conducted in Arabic with 23 mothers residing in Jordan. Using a narrative approach in the data collection and analysis, five major themes were identified: (1) children were exposed to diverse war traumatic experiences in Syria; (2) the escape journey and refugee camps threatened children’s lives; (3) displacement and family stressors exposed children to poverty, hostility from local peers, educational and recreational challenges, child labor, and domestic violence (these three major themes were considered as trauma related variables); (4) children were not only directly affected physically and mentally by their own traumatic experiences and displacement stressors, but these experiences were mediated and magnified by familial interrelated processes, evidenced in intergenerational transmission of trauma, harsh parenting style, parental control, and parentification; and (5) adverse consequences of both trauma related variables and family processes directly and indirectly traumatized children and adversely impacted their physical and mental health. We examined the themes that emerged from the data in view of three theoretical frameworks and the impact of trauma in the family system on child development. To conclude, humanitarian organizations that provide services and interventions to refugees need to take into account familial processes and not only individual factors affecting refugee children’s physical and mental health. Further implications on policies and trauma research are discussed.

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Crossref · 10.3390/ijerph17228378

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  • Parentified youth did not speak about abuse by employers because of worry about losing employment and no longer being the family breadwinner.

    “For example, parentified youth did not speak about abuse by employers because of worry about losing employment and no longer being the family breadwinner [35].”

    From Parentification Vulnerability, Reactivity, Resilience, and Thriving: A Mixed Methods Systematic Literature Review (2023) · cites this paper as [35]

    The Results (§3.2; page unavailable) describe children providing for their families and enduring employers’ abusive treatment; one child explains that he must endure harsh conditions because his boss does not want employees and the family needs money. The Discussion (§4.3; page unavailable) mentions keeping silent about daily challenges and enduring employer abuse. Neither passage specifically says the children did not speak about employer abuse because they feared losing their jobs and breadwinner role. (LLM, conf=0.82)

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  • To manage their experiences, parentified children developed numerous coping strategies, many of which were suboptimal by conventional standards but adaptive for their situation.

    “To manage their experiences, parentified children developed numerous coping strategies, many of which were suboptimal by conventional standards but adaptive for their situation [25,30,32,35,37].”

    From Parentification Vulnerability, Reactivity, Resilience, and Thriving: A Mixed Methods Systematic Literature Review (2023) · cites this paper as [35]

    The Results (§3.2; page unavailable) describe parentified children protecting parents, comforting caregivers, working to support their families, and enduring harsh conditions. The Discussion (§4.3; page unavailable) says these roles helped secure family survival but also harmed children’s physical and mental health. This supports the idea of responses shaped by necessity, but the paper does not characterize numerous coping strategies as adaptive despite being suboptimal by conventional standards. (LLM, conf=0.82)

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  • The suboptimal physical health outcomes of parentification could be exacerbated by co-occurring risk factors that many parentified youth experience, including lack of access to affordable health care, healthy and stable housing, sufficient and quality water and food; harsh or abusive working conditions; domestic violence, and harsh parenting.

    “The suboptimal physical health outcomes of parentification could be exacerbated by co-occurring risk factors that many parentified youth experience. These co-occurring risk factors include a lack of access to affordable health care, healthy and stable housing, sufficient and quality water and food; harsh or abusive working conditions; domestic violence, and harsh parenting [25,27,35].”

    From Parentification Vulnerability, Reactivity, Resilience, and Thriving: A Mixed Methods Systematic Literature Review (2023) · cites this paper as [35]

    Split into 2 atoms — 0 confirmed, 2 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.

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  • Ten qualitative/mixed methods studies reported both positive and negative outcomes, two reported only positive outcomes, and two reported only negative outcomes.

    “Ten studies reported both positive and negative outcomes, two studies reported only positive outcomes [28,36], and two studies reported only negative outcomes [31,35].”

    From Parentification Vulnerability, Reactivity, Resilience, and Thriving: A Mixed Methods Systematic Literature Review (2023) · cites this paper as [35]

  • Compromised educational attendance and attainment was a common outcome for parentified youth.

    “Compromised educational attendance and attainment was a common outcome for parentified youth [27,29,32,33,35].”

    From Parentification Vulnerability, Reactivity, Resilience, and Thriving: A Mixed Methods Systematic Literature Review (2023) · cites this paper as [35]

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1 of the 52 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [31]Creswell J.W. Poth C.N. Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing among Five Approaches 4th ed. SAGE Publications Thousand Oaks, CA, USA 2018

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Authors
Rizkalla, N., Mallat, N. K., Arafa, R., Adi, S., Soudi, L., & Segal, S. P.
Affiliations
  • University of California, Berkeley (US)
  • Stanford Medicine (US)
Corresponding author
Rizkalla, Niveen
ORCID
Venue
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Publisher
MDPI AG
Published
2020-11-12
Volume
17
Issue
22
Pages
8378
ISSN
1660-4601 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3390/ijerph17228378
PMC
PMC7696198
OpenAlex
W3099869934
Cited by
58
References
52
Citations by year
2026: 10 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 3
FWCI
2.40
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Mack Center on Mental Health and Social Conflict, School of Social Welfare, University of California Berkeley (Grant SEGAL)
  • University of California Berkeley Library (Berkeley Research Impact Initiative (BRII))
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Migration, Health and Trauma
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Migration and Exile Studies
  • Social Sciences › Education › Education and experiences of immigrants and refugees
Keywords
Syrian refugee children, child mental health, child physical health, war trauma, refugee camps, intergenerational trauma, harsh parenting, parentification, child labor, domestic violence, family stressors, refugee mothers, child development, humanitarian intervention
MeSH terms
Child Health, Child, Family Characteristics, Female, Humans, Jordan, Mental Health, Refugees, Syria

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