Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T03:02:33.419Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Effects of internal displacement and resettlement on the mental health of Turkish children and adolescents

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2020

Neşe Erol ,
Zeynep Şimşek ,
Özgür Öner  and
Kerim Munir
Neşe Erol*
Affiliation:
Child Psychiatry Department Cebeci, School of Medicine, Ankara University, 06100Ankara, Turkey
Zeynep Şimşek
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health, School of Medicine, Harran University, Yenisehir, Sanliurfa, Turkey
Özgür Öner
Affiliation:
Child Psychiatry Department Cebeci, School of Medicine, Ankara University, 06100Ankara, Turkey
Kerim Munir
Affiliation:
Division of General Pediatrics and Department of Psychiatry, Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +90 312 362 0809. E-mail address: [email protected] (N. Erol).
Get access

Abstract

Aims

To evaluate the effects of internal displacement and resettlement within Turkey on the emotional and behavioral profile of children, age 5–18 after controlling for possible confounding and demographic variables.

Methods

We conducted a national population survey using a self-weighted, equal probability sample. We compared the CBCL, TRF and YSR responses regarding children with (n = 1644) and without (n = 1855) experience of internal displacement. We examined the effects of gender, age, paternal employment, resettlement, urban residence and physical illness.

Results

The children and adolescents with internal displacement had significantly higher internalizing, externalizing and total problem scores on the CBCL and YSR, and higher internalizing scores on the TRF. The effect of displacement was related to higher internalizing problems when factors like physical illness, child age, child gender and urban residence were accounted. The overall effect was small explaining only 0.1–1.5% of the total variance by parent reports, and not evident by teacher reports.

Discussions

To our knowledge the present study is the first to examine Turkish children and adolescents with and without experience of internal displacement. The results are consistent with previous immigration studies: child age, gender, presence of physical illness and urban residence were more important predictors of internalization and externalization problem scores irrespective of informant source.

Keywords

Internal displacementMental healthChildrenAdolescents
Type
Original article
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , March 2005 , pp. 152 - 157
Copyright
Copyright © Elsevier SAS 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abbott, MW, Wong, S, Williams, M, Au, M, Young, WChinese migrants’ mental health and adjustment to life in New Zealand. Aust. N. Z. J. Psychiatry 1999;33:13–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
aAchenbach, TMManual for the child behavior checklist and 1991 profile. Burlington, VT: Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont: 1991Google Scholar
bAchenbach, TMManual for the teacher’s report form and 1991 profile 1991 Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont Burlington, VTGoogle Scholar
cAchenbach, TMManual for the youth self report and 1991 profile. Burlington, VT: Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont; 1991Google Scholar
Austin, JK, Dunn, DW, Huster, GAChildhood epilepsy and asthma: changes in behavior problems related to gender and change in condition severity. Epilepsia 2000;41:615–623.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bashir, MRIssues of immigration for the health and adjustment of young people. J. Paediatr. Child Health. 1993;29Suppl 1S42–S45.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beiser, M, Dion, R, Gotowiec, A, Hyman, I, Vu, NImmigrant and refugee children in Canada. Can. J. Psychiatry 1995;40:67–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bengi-Arslan, L, Verhulst, FC, Van der Ende, J, Erol, NUnderstanding childhood problem behaviors from a cultural perspective: comparison of problem behaviors and competencies in Turkish immigrant, Turkish and Dutch children. Soc. Psychiatry Psychiatr. Epidemiol. 1997;32:477–484.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bengi-Arslan, L, Verhulst, FC, Crijnen, AAMPrevalence and determinants of minor psychiatric disorder in Turkish immigrants living in the Netherlands. Soc. Psychiatry Psychiatr. Epidemiol. 2001;37:118–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cifter, ITurkey. Kemp, DRInternational handbook of mental health policy. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press; 1993; 367–389.Google Scholar
Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on a Community Immigration Policy. Brussels: Commission of the European Communities; 2000Google Scholar
Crijnen, AAM, Bengi-Arslan, L, Verhulst, FCTeacher-reported problem behaviour in Turkish immigrant and Dutch children: a cross-cultural comparison. Acta Psychiatr. Scand. 2000;102:439–444.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crijnen, AAM, Achenbach, TM, Verhulst, FCProblems reported by parents of children in multiple cultures: the child behavior checklist syndrome constructs. Am. J. Psychiatr. 1999;156:569–574.Google Scholar
Davies, LC, McKelvey, RSEmotional and behavioural problems and competencies among immigrant and non-immigrant adolescents. Aust. N. Z. J. Psychiatry 1998;32:658–665.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Almeida-Filho, NInternal migration and mental disorders: new evidence for an old hypothesis. Acta Psiquiatr. Psicol. Am. Lat. 1982;28:21–29.Google ScholarPubMed
Erol, N, Şimşek, ZMental health of Turkish children: behavioral and emotional problems reported by parents, teachers, and adolescents. Singh, NNLeung, JPSingh, ANInternational perspectives on child and adolescent mental health. London: Elsevier; 2000.223–247.Google Scholar
Erol, N, Arslan, BL, Akçakın, MThe adaptation and standardization of the child behavior checklist among 6–18-year-old Turkish children. Sergeant, JEunethydis: European approaches to hyperkinetic disorder. Zürih: Fotoratar; 1995.97–113.Google Scholar
Fazel, M, Stein, AThe mental health of refugee children. Arch. Dis. Child 2002;87:366–370.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gilman, SE, Kawachi, I, Fitzmaurice, GM, Buka, LSocio-economic status, family disruption and residential stability in childhood: relation to onset, recurrence and remission of major depression. Psychol. Med. 2003;33:1341–1355.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
International Migration 2002. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations Population Division; 2002.Google Scholar
Janssen, MM, Verhulst, FC, Bengi-Arslan, L, Erol, N, Salter, CJ, Crijnen, AAComparison of self-reported emotional and behavioral problems in Turkish immigrant, Dutch and Turkish adolescents. Soc. Psychiatry Psychiatr. Epidemiol. 2004;39:133–140.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mirdal, GMThe condition of ‘tightness’: the somatic complaints of Turkish migrant woman. Acta Psychiatr. Scand. 1985;71:287–296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mrazek, DAChronic pediatric illness and multiple hospitalizations. Lewis, MChild and adolescent psychiatry. 2nd ed. London: Williams &Wilkins; 1996.1058–1066.Google Scholar
Munroe-Blum, H, Boyle, MH, Offord, DR, Kates, NImmigrant children: psychiatric disorder, school performance, and service utilization. Am. J. Ortopsychiatry 1989;59:510–519.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Najman, JM, Williams, GM, Nikles, J, Spence, S, Bor, W, O’Callaghan, Met al.Mothers’ mental illness and child behavior problems: cause–effect association or observation bias?. J. Am. Acad. Child. Adolesc. Psychiatry 2000;39:592–602.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Offord, DR, Boyle, MH, Szatmari, P, Rae-Grant, NI, Links, PS, Codman, DTet al.Ontario child health study: II. Six month prevalence of disorder and rates of service utilization. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 1987;44:832–836.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Öner Ö, Erol N, Öner P, Aysev A. Anne Babanın Psikolojik Durumları ile Çocukların Psikolojik Durumlarını Değerlendirmeleri Arasındaki İlişki [Relationship between the parents’ psychological status and the psychological evaluation of their children]. Çocuk ve Gençlik Ruh Sağlığı Dergisi [Turkish J. Child. Adolesc. Mental Health] 2001;8:69–77.Google Scholar
Rutter, M, Yule, W, Berger, M, Yule, B, Morton, J, Bagley, CChildren of West Indian immigrants. I. Rates of behavioural deviance and of psychiatric disorder. J. Child Psychol. Psychiatry 1974;15:241–262.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Short, KH, Johnston, CStress, maternal distress, and children’s adjustment following immigration: the buffering role of social support. J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 1997;65:494–503.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sowa, H, Crijnen, AAM, Bengi-Arslan, L, Verhulst, FCFactors associated with problem behaviors in Turkish immigrant children in Netherlands. Soc. Psychiatry Psychiatr. Epidemiol. 2000;35:177–184.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Turkyilmaz, A, Cay, AH, Avsar, BZ, Aksoy, MDoğu ve Güneydoğu Anadolu’dan Terör Nedeniyle Göç Eden Ailelerin Sorunları [Problems of families immigrated from South and Southeast Anatolia because of terror]. Ankara: AAK Press; 1998Google Scholar
US Department of Homeland Security Yearbook of immigration statistics, 2002 Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office; 2003Google Scholar
Verhulst, FCReview of community studies. Verhulst, FCKoot, HMThe epidemiology of child and adolescent psychopathology Oxford: Oxford Medical Publications; 1995.146–177.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.