Data_Sheet_1_With a little help from my friends? Acculturation and mental health in Arabic-speaking refugee youth living with their families.pdf

IntroductionRefugee youth are often faced with the compounding challenges of heightened exposure to traumatic events and acculturating to a new country during a developmental period when their sense of self is still forming. This study investigated whether refugee youth’s acculturation orientation (separation, integration, marginalization, and assimilation) is associated with depressive and posttraumatic stress symptoms and aimed to identify additional indicators of acculturation that may contribute to mental health.MethodsA total of 101 Arabic-speaking refugee youths (aged 14–20 years), who were living with their families and attending school in Germany, took part in the study. They answered questions concerning traumatic exposure and posttraumatic stress symptoms, depressive symptoms, and several indicators of acculturation, including cultural orientation, positive and negative intra- and intergroup contact, language skills and friendship networks. All participants were categorized into one of four acculturation orientations using median splits.ResultsKruskal–Wallis rank sum tests revealed that acculturation orientation was not significantly associated with depressive symptoms [χ2 (3, 97) = 0.519, p = 0.915] or posttraumatic stress symptoms [χ2 (3, 97) = 0.263, p = 0.967]. Regression analysis revealed that German language skills were significantly associated with lower scores of depressive symptoms (p = 0.016) and number of friends in Germany was significantly associated with lower scores of depressive (p = 0.006) and posttraumatic stress symptoms (p = 0.002), respectively.DiscussionPolicies that provide refugee youth with access to language classes and social activities with peers do not only enable them to actively participate in a new society but may also have a positive effect on their mental health.

引言：难民营青少年常在自我认知尚未完全形成的成长阶段，面临创伤事件暴露度提升及适应新国家的叠加挑战。本研究旨在探讨难民青少年的文化适应倾向（包括分离、融合、边缘化和同化）是否与抑郁和创伤后应激症状相关联，并旨在识别可能有助于心理健康的文化适应的额外指标。方法：共有101名阿拉伯语系难民青少年（年龄在14至20岁之间），他们在德国与家人同住并就读于学校，参与了本研究。他们回答了关于创伤暴露和创伤后应激症状、抑郁症状以及文化倾向、积极的和消极的群际与群内接触、语言技能和友谊网络等几个文化适应指标的问题。所有参与者根据中位数分割被归入四种文化适应倾向之一。结果：克鲁斯卡尔-沃利斯秩和检验显示，文化适应倾向与抑郁症状[χ2 (3, 97) = 0.519, p = 0.915]或创伤后应激症状[χ2 (3, 97) = 0.263, p = 0.967]无显著关联。回归分析表明，德语语言技能与较低的抑郁症状评分显著相关（p = 0.016），而在德国的朋友数量与较低的抑郁症状评分（p = 0.006）和创伤后应激症状评分（p = 0.002）显著相关。讨论：为难民青少年提供语言课程和与同龄人社交活动的政策，不仅能让他们积极参与新社会，还可能对他们的心理健康产生积极影响。