Resilience, mental health, and exposure to violence among individuals with former or current experiences of being a refugee in Sweden : quantitative and qualitative studies

Sammanfattning: Studies indicate that individuals with current or former experiences of being a refugee are more likely to have experienced adverse events, like violence, and face mental health challenges in their host countries. After arrival in host countries, people with refugee experiences often confront various post-migration adversities like discrimination. However, research in this area has been hampered by limitations and a lack of child perspective. This thesis aims to examine both pre-, peri- and post-migration factors that impact the health, well-being, and experiences of children and adults who have migrated to Sweden as refugees.Article I is a systematic review of Nordic studies on resilience, risk and protective factors for health in refugee children. We found that adversity was consistently identified as a risk factor for poorer health, but otherwise, findings were inconsistent. No study explicitly examined resilience. Article II examined the relationship between refugee experiences in childhood and health in adulthood in a nationally representative sample. The study found no clear link between childhood refugee experiences and worse health in adulthood. Article III investigated differences in health and health-related behaviours between sexual and gender minority refugees, migrants, and Swedish/Western-born individuals and their heterosexual peers. We found higher rates of mental and general ill-health and worse health-related behaviours in sexualand gender-minority individuals regardless of whether they were refugees, migrants, or Swedish and Western-born. Surprisingly, our study revealed no indications of inferior health outcomes among refugee or migrant sexual and gender minorities in comparison to Swedish/Western-born individuals. Article IV investigated mental health and functioning of refugee children and young adults in Sweden. We found lower rates of mental ill-health than previously reported in other studies on refugee children and young adults. Unaccompanied refugee children had worse outcomes than those accompanied. Article V explored the experiences of refugee children and their agency in constructing their own lives during migration. We found that child refugees express a longing for a good life and demonstrate active agency despite facing diverse challenges.Overall, the prevalence rates for mental ill-health were lower than in many previously published studies even though the prevalence rates are higher than in many studies published on the general population of children in Sweden. Further, the results suggest that these effects are transient. The studies highlight the need to focus on the heterogeneity of the population, for example, by addressing factors that pose a risk to health and rights in refugee children and adults. Moreover, the research emphasizes the importance of adopting a perspective that simultaneously acknowledges both the strengths and vulnerabilities of refugee children. Additionally, this perspective should recognize individual differences, rights, and goals.