Emotional expressiveness and avoidance in narratives of unaccompanied refugee minors

The aim of this study was to examine a cohort of unaccompanied refugee minors (URMs) by means of psycholinguistic methods in order to obtain a more subtle picture of their degree of traumatization. Twenty-eight participants were included in the Stress-Inducing Speech Task (SIST) consisting of a free association (FA) and a stress (STR) condition. Narratives were examined by means of (1) quantitative parameters (word count); (2) psycholinguistic variables (temporal junctures, TJs), narrative structure, referential activity (RA)—a measure of emotional expressivity; and (3) content analysis ratings. Word count was significantly lower than in age-matched norms. In the FA condition, TJs were lower, but in the STR condition, rates were comparable. RA was significantly higher in both conditions. Content analysis ratings showed that the experiences described by these youths were potentially traumatic in nature. This pattern of narrative shows a mixture of fulfilling the task demand, while containing an emotionally charged narrative. Narrative structure was absent in the FA condition, but preserved in the STR condition, as URMs struggled with the description of non-normative events. This indicates that these youths have not yet emotionally dealt with and fully integrated their trauma experiences.

本研究旨在采用心理语言学方法对孤身未成年难民（unaccompanied refugee minors, URMs）队列展开研究，以更细致地刻画其创伤程度。本研究纳入28名参与者，实验采用应激诱发言语任务（Stress-Inducing Speech Task, SIST），该任务包含自由联想（free association, FA）与应激（stress, STR）两种实验条件。研究通过三方面对参与者的叙事文本进行分析：（1）量化参数（词数）；（2）心理语言学变量：时间衔接点（temporal junctures, TJs）、叙事结构、指称活动（referential activity, RA）——一种情感表达性的衡量指标；（3）内容分析评分。结果显示，参与者的词数显著低于年龄匹配常模；在自由联想条件下，时间衔接点得分更低，但在应激条件下，该指标与常模水平相当；两种实验条件下，指称活动得分均显著更高。内容分析评分表明，这些青少年所描述的经历本质上具有潜在创伤性。该叙事模式体现出，参与者在完成任务要求的同时，其叙事文本亦饱含情感张力。自由联想条件下未呈现完整叙事结构，而应激条件下叙事结构得以保留，这是由于孤身未成年难民在描述非规范性事件时存在表达困难。上述结果提示，这些青少年尚未在情感层面处理并完全整合其创伤经历。