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Abstract

Adolescents are prone to severe psychological, emotional and physical impacts through war and refugee status. In 2018 we surveyed a convenience sampling of 205 Syrian refugee youth (104 females and 101 males) in a refugee camp in Jordan in order to examine psychological functioning, self-esteem, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and social and family functioning. The following instruments were used: The Brief Symptoms Inventory (BSI); Rosenberg Self-Esteem (SE), the McMaster Family Device (FAD); the PTSD Scale; and Social Functioning. In contrast to previous studies on political violence in the Arab world, female respondents had lower levels of psychological symptoms and PTSD and higher levels of social functioning. Three culturally situated factors are explored: boys' higher prevalence outside of the home; the lower protective factor of familial socioeconomic status; and the protective factor of educational attainment. The conclusion calls for interventions and policies to take into account these gendered differences and for further research to assess these interventions.

Biography

Alean Al-Krenawi has a PhD from University of Toronto, a Master of Social Work from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a BA from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. He is a Professor in the Spitzer Department of Social Work in Ben-Gurion University. He has held faculty, senior administrative and consultative appointments at Ben-Gurion University, Al-Ahliyya Amman University of Jordan, Achva Academic College (Israel), Memorial University of Newfoundland School of Social Work (Canada) and Visiting Scholar/Professor positions at University of Calgary (Canada) and Bournemouth University (UK).