Facing Adversity: The Specificity of the Refugee Experience and Children’s Social-Emotional Development

• In Event: 1-090 - Specificity in Developmental Science: Illustrations from Species, Cultures, and Families

Integrative Statement

Exposure to early adverse experiences can have detrimental effects on children’s development and health. Since 2015, over 40,000 Syrian refugee families have immigrated to Canada, creating an urgent need to understand and nurture their development and well-being. Drawing on developmental, clinical, and biosocial theoretical perspectives, I explore how refugee experiences, such as exposure to violence and displacement, affect the development and mental health of children in the Canadian context. My presentation focuses on data from a cross-sectional sample of Syrian refugee children and their caregivers who have recently resettled in Canada (N = 121; 5 to 12 years). I will present social-emotional profiles of these children across core domains of development and identify links to mental health. Next, I will show associations between pre- and post-migratory life events and social-emotional development. Last, I will examine factors in the family and community environment that moderate exposure to adversity and social-emotional characteristics. I conclude by discussing how these findings add to current theorizing on the social-emotional development of children facing high environmental adversity and elaborate on the implications of this work for tailored intervention practices.

Author

• Tina Malti, University of Toronto
  Presenting Author