Research project Traumatic stress with refugee parents
How does it affect the children?
Today, preventive strategies for children of refugee parents with severe traumatic stress are lacking in Stockholm County and most other county councils.
This study will provide a basis for taking a position on such initiatives, but will probably also be met with significant international interest as there is a lack of population studies on these issues in the international scientific literature.
Project description
Almost one third of the refugees who have been received in Sweden since the 1970s have been children. One of the biggest challenges for the reception of refugees in Sweden is to establish conditions for these children so they will have equal opportunities for work and good health in adulthood, as do other children in the Swedish society. Much suggests that a good education and good mental health are key factors in such a favorable development. Many refugees suffer from mental illness related to war experiences or torture, so-called post-traumatic stress. Clinical studies have shown that this can affect parents' relationships with their children. Potentially, one can imagine that these difficulties can lead to a higher level of mental illness in the children, as well as to poorer school performance. The overall aim of the project is to investigate whether severe post-traumatic stress in refugee parents increases the risk of school failure and mental illness in their children.
The study population consists of approximately 300,000 children living in Stockholm County in the year they turned 16 during 2001-2016 and their parents. Information about grades and national tests in grade 9, parents' and own care consumption related to mental illness, and the family's social characteristics are linked to the children. Children of parents who have been treated at the Red Cross Center for Tortured Refugees in Stockholm, Crisis and Trauma Center and/or other care units within the Stockholm County Council with a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder will be compared in the analyzes with children in other refugee families, children of Swedish-born parents with other types of psychiatric problems and other school children in the county.
The study is funded by the Human Science Academic Area, at Stockholm University (Children, Migration and Integration)
Project members
Project managers
Lisa Berg
Senior Lecturer/docent
Members
Anders Hjern
Guest Researcher
Denny Vågerö
Emeritus
