Social context factors and refugee children's emotional health

Changes in peer belonging, school climate, and the emotional health of immigrant, refugee, and non-immigrant early adolescents

INTRODUCTION

Early adolescents who are new to Canada experience dual challenges of navigating developmental changes and multiple cultures. This study examined how changes in early adolescents' emotional health from ages 9 to 12 differed by immigration background, and to what extent peer belonging and supportive school climate protected or promoted their emotional health.

METHODS

This study drew upon linked self-report and administrative data. Across 10 school districts in British Columbia, Canada, N = 4479 non-immigrant, immigrant, and refugee adolescents reported on their peer belonging, school climate, and emotional health (life satisfaction, optimism, self-esteem, sadness, worries) in Grades 4 and 7, using the Middle Years Development Instrument. Immigration background including immigration class (economic, family, refugee) and generation status (first, second) were obtained from linked Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada data. Multi-level modeling assessed the effect of time (grade level), immigration group, and changes in peer belonging and school climate on changes in self-reported emotional health. Analyses were adjusted for gender, English first language, and low family income.

RESULTS

Immigrant and refugee adolescents reported worse emotional health in Grade 4 compared to non-immigrants. Non-immigrant and immigrant adolescents reported declines in emotional health from Grades 4 to 7. In contrast, first-generation refugee adolescents reported significant improvements in life satisfaction, and first- and second-generation refugees reported improvements in worries over this period. Perceived improvements in peer belonging and school climate were associated with positive changes in emotional health for all adolescents.

CONCLUSIONS

Changes in adolescents' emotional health from Grades 4 to 7 differed between immigrants, refugees, and non-immigrants. Immigrants and refugees who enter adolescence with lower emotional health than their non-immigrant peers may particularly benefit from culturally responsive school and community-based interventions.

Differences in Well-Being at School Between Young Students With and Without a Refugee Background

Students with a refugee background are a vulnerable group in education. Adverse experiences and unsafe circumstances that they encounter prior, during and after their flight can place a great burden on their mental health and psychological well-being. Little is known about the psychological well-being of young refugee students in kindergarten and early years of primary school. The current study examined the psychological well-being of 4- to 8-year-old students with a refugee background residing in the Netherlands (n = 136), compared to Dutch peers without a refugee background (n = 406). Primary school teachers completed three questionnaires which assessed multiple indicators of their students' psychological well-being: Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), Social-Emotional Questionnaire (SEV) and Risk and Protective factors Trauma Observation School Situations (RaPTOSS). In line with the hypothesis, results showed overall lower psychological well-being among refugee students compared to non-refugee students. Teachers observed more total difficulties in socio-emotional functioning, anxious and mood disturbing behavior, ADHD symptoms, problematic social behavior and post-traumatic stress symptoms (small effects), and less developed trauma protective factors and prosocial behavior (medium effects) among students with a refugee background compared to their non-refugee peers. However, the findings also demonstrated that half of the refugee students did not have any scores that fall in the clinical range of the psychological and behavioral problems assessed. The results underline the need to promote protective factors such as positive self-image, self-regulation skills, safety and relations in the classroom and prosocial behavior among students with a refugee background.

Migrant-Background Student Experiences of Facing and Overcoming Difficulties in Finnish Comprehensive Schools

This article considers what students with a migrant background in Finnish comprehensive schools report as difficult, and how they succeed in overcoming these difficulties. We draw on two sets of school wellbeing and learning surveys for migrant students, conducted in 2016 and 2021 in comprehensive schools (grades 1–9) in and around two major cities in Finland. We pay attention to student answers to three questions: What is difficult in school? How do you succeed in difficult tasks in school? and Who helps you in school? The datasets from the two points in time are compared to see whether changes in school demographic situation and the student length of stay in Finland had an impact on student experiences. Our findings show that theory-based school subjects that depend strongly on language, such as science subjects, maths, Finnish, Swedish and English, are considered difficult. Additionally, interaction with peers, which also relies on language, causes challenges. The students report turning to teachers, other professionals and peers for assistance and support, and also mention personal strategies they have developed to overcome school-related difficulties. Understanding what migrant students find difficult, as well as how, and with the help of whom, they overcome such difficulties is crucial for the development of effective and sensitive pedagogical practices.

Immigrant child health in Canada: a scoping review

INTRODUCTION

Understanding the health of immigrant children from birth to 18 years of age is important given the significance of the early childhood years and complexity of factors that may influence the health status of immigrant populations. Thus, the purpose of this review was to understand the extent and nature of the literature on the health of immigrant children in Canada.

METHODS

We conducted a scoping review of the literature. The review was focused on studies of first-generation and second-generation immigrant children aged 0-18 years. We completed standardised data extraction of immigration status, immigration route, age of children, data source, health or clinical focus, country of origin and major findings.

RESULTS

In total, 250 published papers representing data from 237 studies met the inclusion criteria for this study. A total of 178 articles used quantitative methodologies (mostly survey and cross-sectional study designs), 54 used qualitative methodologies and 18 used mixed methodologies. The articles considered in this review included 147 (59%) focusing on physical health, 76 (30%) focusing on mental health and 37 (15%) focusing on the social aspects of health for refugee and first-generation and second-generation immigrant children across the provinces and territories of Canada.

CONCLUSIONS

Several literature gaps exist with respect to child immigrant health in Canada. For instance, there are no exclusive studies on immigrant boys and limited studies on children of international students.