Citation

Betancourt TS, Salhi C, Buka S, Leaning J, Dunn G, Earls F. Disasters 2012; 36(4): 635-655.

Affiliation

Director of the Research Program on Children and Global Adversity at the Francois Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights and is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard School of Public Health, United States Doctoral candidate in the Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard School of Public Health, United States Chair of Epidemiology at the Department of Community Health, Brown University Medical School, United States Director of the Francois Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights and a Professor in the Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard School of Public Health, United States Former Country Director of the International Rescue Committee's Russian Federation Country Office and a doctoral candidate in Public Health at the City University of New York, United States Professor in the Department of Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, United States.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1467-7717.2012.01280.x

PMID

22443099

Abstract

The study investigated factors associated with internalising emotional and behavioural problems among adolescents displaced during the most recent Chechen conflict. A cross-sectional survey (N = 183) examined relationships between social support and connectedness with family, peers and community in relation to internalising problems. Levels of internalising were higher in displaced Chechen youth compared to published norms among non-referred youth in the United States and among Russian children not affected by conflict. Girls demonstrated higher problem scores compared to boys. Significant inverse correlations were observed between family, peer and community connectedness and internalising problems. In multivariate analyses, family connectedness was indicated as a significant predictor of internalising problems, independent of age, gender, housing status and other forms of support evaluated. Sub-analyses by gender indicated stronger protective relationships between family connectedness and internalising problems in boys. Results indicate that family connectedness is an important protective factor requiring further exploration by gender in war-affected adolescents.

Language: en