Persistence of Emotional Distress in Unaccompanied Migrant Children and Adolescents Primarily From the Northern Triangle of Central America.

Importance: In the US, unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents (hereinafter referred to as children) are predominantly from Central America's Northern Triangle. While unaccompanied migrant children are at high risk for psychiatric sequelae due to complex traumatic exposures, longitudinal investigations of psychiatric distress after resettlement are lacking. Objective: To identify factors associated with emotional distress and longitudinal changes in emotional distress among unaccompanied migrant children in the US. Design, Setting, and Participants: For this retrospective cohort study, the 15-item Refugee Health Screener (RHS-15) was administered between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2019, to unaccompanied migrant children as part of their medical care to detect emotional distress. Follow-up RHS-15 results were included if they were completed before February 29, 2020. Median follow-up interval was 203 days (IQR, 113-375 days). The study was conducted in a federally qualified health center that provides medical, mental health, and legal services. Unaccompanied migrant children who completed the initial RHS-15 were eligible for analysis. Data were analyzed from April 18, 2022, to April 23, 2023. Exposures: Traumatic events before migration, during migration, during detention, and after resettlement in the US. Main Outcomes and Measures: Emotional distress, including symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depressive symptoms, as indicated by the RHS-15 (ie, score ≥12 on items 1-14 or ≥5 on item 15). Results: In total, 176 unaccompanied migrant children completed an initial RHS-15. They were primarily from Central America's Northern Triangle (153 [86.9%]), were mostly male (126 [71.6%]), and had a mean (SD) age of 16.9 (2.1) years. Of the 176 unaccompanied migrant children, 101 (57.4%) had screen results above the positive cutoff. Girls were more likely to have positive screen results than boys (odds ratio, 2.48 [95% CI, 1.15-5.34]; P = .02). Follow-up scores were available for 68 unaccompanied migrant children (38.6%). On the follow-up RHS-15, most scored above the positive cutoff (44 [64.7%]). Three-quarters of unaccompanied migrant children who scored above the positive cutoff initially continued to have positive scores at follow-up (30 of 40), and half of those with negative screen scores initially had positive scores at follow-up (14 of 28). Female vs male unaccompanied migrant children (unstandardized ß = 5.14 [95% CI, 0.23-10.06]; P = .04) and initial total score (unstandardized ß = 0.41 [95% CI, 0.18-0.64]; P = .001) were independently associated with increased follow-up RHS-15 total score. Conclusions and Relevance: The findings suggest that unaccompanied migrant children are at high risk for emotional distress, including symptoms of depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress. The persistence of emotional distress suggests that unaccompanied migrant children would benefit from ongoing psychosocial and material support after resettlement.

[Taking care of an unaccompanied minor's body at the Maison des adolescents]. / Prendre en charge le corps et son histoire, parcours d'une mineure non accompagnée à la Maison des adolescents.

The care of unaccompanied young exiles in public health care facilities for adolescents often requires teams to adapt their capacities for institutional containment. We describe the case of a 16 year old female migrant adolescent, whose follow-up occurred at the Maison des adolescents of the Cochin Hospital, with several healthcare workers involved. The healthcare team had to reflect on the meaning of her somatic symptoms and why the referring adults were so worried (such as fear of death). We describe how we articulated somatic and psychological care for this adolescent girl living in a precarious situation.

A Tale of Childhood Loss, Conditional Acceptance and a Fear of Abandonment: A Qualitative Study Taking a Narrative Approach to Eating Disorders.

Eating disorders (EDs) are serious mental health illnesses, yet there is a need to better understand the illness experience to improve treatment outcomes. Qualitative research, and narrative approaches in particular, can elicit life stories that allow for the whole illness journey to be explored. This study aimed to explore the experiences of women with a history of an ED, identifying the life events they perceived were relevant to the onset of their ED through to recovery. Interviews were conducted with 18 women with lived experience of an ED. Through structural narrative analysis, an overarching storyline of childhood loss contributing to a belief of conditional acceptance, fear of abandonment and struggle to seek emotional support due to the fear of being a burden was identified. Negative experiences with the health sector were common. These findings have implications for the way medical professionals respond to help seeking and deliver treatment.

The Impact of Parental Remote Migration and Parent-Child Relation Types on the Psychological Resilience of Rural Left-Behind Children in China.

Using survey data of middle school students from Ye county in Henan province and Chenggu and Ningqiang county in Shaanxi province, China, adopting latent class analysis and hierarchical linear regression, this study analyzes the impact of parental remote migration and parent-child relation types on the psychological resilience of rural left-behind children. The results show that: Only mother's remote migration has a significantly negative impact on the psychological resilience of rural left-behind children, the time of parental first migration, the distance of father's migration, and children's migration have no significant impacts; parent-child relation of "alienation connection and weak function" or parent-child relation combination of "parental alienation connection and weak function" is the most unfavorable factor for the psychological resilience of rural left-behind children, while father-child relation of "close connection but lacking function", mother-child relation of "intimate connection and strong function", and combination of "paternal close connection but lacking function - maternal intimate connection and strong function" are the most favorable factors. There is gender difference in the impact of father-child relation types and mother-child relation types, the impact of father-child relation types is stronger than that of mother-child relation types; harmonious parental relation, supportive friends, caring teachers, and moderate home-school interaction are favorable for the psychological resilience of rural left-behind children.

Sensory deprivation in children living in suboptimal care environments.

Emeritus Professor Alan Glasper, from the University of Southampton, reflects on new research which illuminates the impact of sensory deprivation in early childhood.

Culture competence and mental health across different immigrant and refugee groups.

BACKGROUND: Over the last decades, due to high rates of immigration, many high-income countries have witnessed demographic shifts towards more cultural diversity in the population. Socio-economic deprivation and traumatic experiences pre-migration contribute to a high risk for mental health problems among immigrant background youth. Moreover, when adapting to the multi-cultural contexts of the resettlement countries they face several acculturation demands, which may also affect their mental health in adaptive or hazardous ways. One of these acculturation tasks involves developing the cultural competence necessary to thrive and participate socially within the heritage and the majority cultural domains. From a public mental health perspective, it is important to have thorough knowledge about acculturation-related risk and protective factors. However, this responsibility has been challenged by a lack of acculturation measures that are theoretically linked to mental health, and target the cultural competencies of immigrant background youth. Therefore, the current study aimed at examining if a construct of peer-related culture competence, operationalized in the Youth Culture Competence Scale (YCCS), captured the same competence-phenomenon across different language, age, and immigrant groups in two immigrant-receiving countries. The scale includes two dimensions: one of heritage, and one of majority peer-related culture competence. METHODS: Self-report questionnaire data were collected from 895 unaccompanied refugees and 591 immigrant background high school students in Norway, and from 321 immigrant university students in the United States. To examine if the measure assessed the same phenomenon of peer-related culture competence across these three multi-ethnic samples with an age range from 13 to 28, we examined its measurement equivalence. Additionally, we examined if the association between peer-related culture competence and depressive symptoms was similar in these groups. RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analyses supported the proposed two factor structure of the YCCS across the three samples. The structural equation model assessing the effects of heritage and majority culture competence on depressive symptoms confirmed that each culture competence dimension had a unique association with depressive symptoms across the samples. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that the YCCS is a robust acculturation measure that may be included in public health studies of mental health among multi-ethnic refugee and immigrant samples of varied ages.

Self-harm behaviors, suicidal ideation, and associated factors among rural left-behind children in west China.

PURPOSE: This population-based cross-sectional study describes self-harm (SH) behaviors and associated factors in 2898 Chinese left-behind children (LBC). METHODS: Descriptive statistics were used to present and compare the distributional characteristics of SH behaviors. Binary and ordinal logistic-regression models for survey data were applied to explore associated factors of SH. RESULTS: Among the LBC, 48% (95% CI: 42%-54%) reported SH behaviors. SH was prominently associated with suicidal ideation. Boys, junior high-school students, and LBC whose fathers were poorly educated were observed to have higher prevalence of SH. Boys, local ethnic minorities, junior high-school students, and LBC whose fathers were comparatively well educated were observed to be at increased risk of more medically serious SH behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: SH is a substantial public health problem among rural Chinese LBC. Targeted intervention measures should be developed to reduce future suicide risk.

Runaway Youth: Caring for the Nation's Largest Segment of Missing Children.

The largest segment of missing children in the United States includes runaways, children who run away from home, and thrownaways, children who are told to leave or stay away from home by a household adult. Although estimates vary, as many as 1 in 20 youth run away from home annually. These unaccompanied youth have unique health needs, including high rates of trauma, mental illness, substance use, pregnancy, and sexually transmitted infections. While away, youth who run away are at high risk for additional trauma, victimization, and violence. Runaway and thrownaway youth have high unmet health care needs and limited access to care. Several populations are at particular high risk for runaway episodes, including victims of abuse and neglect; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth; and youth in protective custody. Pediatricians and other health care professionals have a critical role to play in supporting runaway youth, addressing their unique health needs, fostering positive relationships within their families and with other supportive adults, and connecting them with available community resources. This report provides clinical guidance for pediatricians and other health care professionals regarding (1) the identification of adolescents who are at risk for running away or being thrown away and (2) the management of the unique medical, mental health, and social needs of these youth. In partnership with national, state, and local resources, pediatricians can significantly reduce risk and improve long-term outcomes for runaway youth.

[Unaccompanied Minors: Individual Trajectories Confronting Politics]. / Les mineurs non accompagnés : des destins individuels qui interrogent le politique.

Objectives The article presents the clinical description and discussion of a 17 years old Moroccan unaccompanied minor who migrated on his own to France. This case illustrates the complexity of the foreign unaccompanied minors' trajectories and the challenges of the clinical and institutional accompaniment provided in France. In the lights of the results of our clinical work and research, we suggest transcultural tools and perspectives that facilitate the construction of a narrative and that reinforce trust with the professionals-care givers working along with this population. Creativity is needed in the care of foreign isolated young people, in the absence of the family. Past traumatic experiences in these youths' lives hinder the process of building trust in the host country's educational accompaniment. Method In the framework of our action research, we describe the transcultural therapy setting created by our team to address the unaccompanied minors' psychological distress. Aiming to encourage the emergence of a life narrative that had been obstructed and ruptured by traumatic experiences, we resort to various tools facilitating the storytelling (objects, circle test, mediators interpreters, transcultural interpretations). Results The discussion follows three stances: the anthropological perspective focusing on the specific situation of the harraga-young people wandering both on the psychic and physical levels-, the political perspective, and the trauma clinic perspective. The enhancement and deepening of the cross-cultural skills of social workers strengthen their resources and provide them with better tools to accompany these young people. Additionally, results highlight the impact of the political discourse and strategies in the social workers' self-perception and the strains it creates in their daily work. Conclusion The transcultural approach addressed to unaccompanied minors relaunches the identity construction process in adolescence, impeded by their traumatic journey in migration. This implies restoring coherence in the life path of young people despite the rupture caused by the migration, often reactivated by new separations during the repetitive changes of foster homes. The unaccompanied minors have the possibility, through this clinical setting to depict an accurate representation of themselves, to develop narratives that can outgrow the preconceptions associated with their status, opening a brighter way for their individual destinies.

Ambiguous Loss in Transnational Families' Adolescents: An Exploratory Study in Ecuador.

In psychosocial migration literature, the perspective of ambiguous loss has been relevant to articulate personal and relational experiences in the context of transnational families and ongoing separation. Most studies have focused on adult members' experiences of transnational families, but research exploring ambiguous loss in adolescents whose parents have migrated is still lacking. The present study aimed to explore adolescents' lived experiences of parental migration. In a pilot explorative study, 14 adolescents with at least one parent who migrated were interviewed about their lived experiences of transnational parent-child relationships and ongoing parent-child separation. Data analysis identified four themes in participants' accounts: practices of separation creating confusion; current relationship with migrant parents permeated by ambiguity; distrustful representations of migrant parents; and family and social dynamics reactivating the pain of loss. The findings reveal how in the context of parental migration, patterns of separation and ongoing relational processes, compounded by the uncertainty of reunification and an exclusionary social fabric, constitute core elements that shape adolescents' lived experiences of parent-child relationships characterized by ambiguity.

En la bibliografía sobre las consecuencias psicosociales de la migración, la perspectiva de la pérdida ambigua ha sido relevante para expresar las experiencias personales y relacionales en el contexto de las familias transnacionales y la separación constante. La mayoría de los estudios se han centrado en las experiencias de los miembros adultos de las familias transnacionales, pero aun faltan investigaciones que analicen la pérdida ambigua en los adolescentes cuyos padres han emigrado. El presente estudio tiene como finalidad analizar las vivencias de los adolescentes de padres migrantes. En un estudio piloto exploratorio, se entrevistó a 14 adolescentes con al menos un padre que emigró acerca de sus vivencias con respecto a las relaciones transnacionales entre padre e hijo y la separación constante entre padre e hijo. Los análisis de datos identificaron cuatro temas en los informes de los participantes: las prácticas de separación que generan confusión; la relación actual con los padres emigrantes impregnada por la ambigüedad; las representaciones desconfiadas de los padres emigrantes; y la dinámica familiar y social que reactiva el dolor de la pérdida. Los resultados revelan cómo, en el contexto de la migración parental, los patrones de separación y los procesos relacionales constantes, agravados por la incertidumbre de la reunificación y una estructura social exclusivista, constituyen elementos fundamentales que moldean las vivencias de los adolescentes en las relaciones entre padres e hijos caracterizadas por la ambigüedad.

Mental health and its influencing factors among left-behind children in South China: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: With rapid development of China's economy, there were over 68.7 million left-behind children (LBC) in China whose mental health has become a problem of public concern. The present cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the status of mental health and its associated factors of LBC aged 3-16 years old in both rural and urban areas. METHODS: A total of 4187 children (aged 3-16), including 1471 LBC and 2716 non-left-behind children (NLBC), were recruited from 50 communities (22 in urban areas and 28 in rural areas) in Guangdong, China in August, 2014. The mental health problems were assessed using the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). RESULTS: No statistically significant difference of SDQ subscales scores about difficulties were found between LBC and NLBC on the whole participants as well as in rural areas or in urban areas within the same age group after adjustments were made (all p > 0.05). However, compared with NLBC in the same areas, urban LBC tended to have higher prosocial behaviours scores, while rural LBC had the lowest prosocial behaviours scores not only in the whole age group but also in different age subgroups (p < 0.05). Besides, compared with urban LBC, rural LBC were not worse in SDQ subscales scores except for prosocial behaviour at 7-9 age group (p = 0.003). Furthermore, higher paternal educational level and longer duration of parental absence, were associated with less difficulties in both rural and urban LBC. Besides, shorter duration of talk per-time but higher communication frequency were associated with less difficulties in rural LBC. CONCLUSIONS: The present study demonstrated that in general, no difference of mental health problems were found between LBC and NLBC. Besides, longer duration of parental absence, shorter duration of talk per time but more communication frequency, and higher paternal educational level tend to have better development of mental health. The findings reinforce the importance of the stability of caregivers and the effective parent-child communication for Chinese rural LBC.

Resilience and self-harm among left-behind children in Yunnan, China: a community-based survey.

BACKGROUND: Self-harm (SH) behaviors are established risk factors of suicide, however, in Chinese left-behind children (LBC), SH remains severely under-discussed. In this study, we aimed to investigate SH and explore its association between resilience in a large group of LBC. METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study of 2898 LBC was conducted in Yunnan province, China. Information was collected by self-reporting questionnaires. Descriptive analysis was used to depict and compare characteristics of the subjects. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression models were applied to estimate the associations between resilience and SH prevalence, SH severity, SH repetition. RESULTS: The prevalence of SH in LBC was 48.8% (95%CI: 47.0-49.7%). Compared to LBC with lower level of resilience, a higher level of resilience was related to 0.40 folds of SH odds (95%CI: 0.34-0.48). Besides, among all dimensions of resilience, every 1 average score increase of emotion regulation and family support were associated with 0.13 (95%CI: 0.04-0.37) and 0.14 (95%CI: 0.04-0.47) folds of odds in severer SH, respectively; one unit increase in the average score of emotion regulation was related to an OR of 0.23 (95%CI: 0.07-0.71) for repeated SH. CONCLUSIONS: Psychological resilience presented protective effect on SH in LBC, especially the dimensions of emotion regulation and family support. Intervention measures focusing on enhancing emotion regulation ability and building parent-child connection could be considered in order to reduce SH and suicidal risk in LBC.

[Care of unaccompanied minors in a psychiatric emergency unit]. / Prise en charge des mineurs non accompagnés en service d'urgences psychiatriques.

Emergency psychiatric units are receiving more and more foreign unaccompanied minors: for many of these young people it is their first contact with psychiatric services. This context of crisis crystallises the administrative and legal paradoxes at work in the support of these youngsters. Coordination between emergency care, statutory bodies and community-based care enables stability to be established while the care project is being set up.

[The mental health care of unaccompanied minors in children's homes]. / Penser le soin psychique des mineurs non accompagnés en foyer de l'enfance.

Many unaccompanied minors in the care of children's welfare services are housed in a children's home after their assessment. Adapting to this living environment means going from a high level of autonomy to being subject to certain rules, as well as giving oneself permission to settle and accept the support of the educational setting. Care is an important aspect of a children's home: the body is an indicator of the health of these youngsters.

[At the heart of the transcultural psychotherapy of a traumatised unaccompanied minor with psychosis]. / Au cœur de la psychothérapie transculturelle d'un mineur non accompagné psychotique et traumatisé.

Transcultural consultations receive unaccompanied minors experiencing psychological distress as a result of their personal history in their country of origin, their harrowing journey until their arrival in France and their vulnerable situation. Presentation of the mental health pathway and identity issues of one of these young unaccompanied foreigners, and asylum seeker.

The mediating role of resilience and self-esteem between negative life events and positive social adjustment among left-behind adolescents in China: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: In China, adolescents are frequently left behind by their parents. A great deal of scientific evidence demonstrates considerable psychological and social impacts that negative life events may have on adolescents who are left behind. While a direct relationship between negative life events and psychological and social effects has been observed, indirect effects have yet to be examined. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the association between negative life events and positive social adjustment and how resilience and self-esteem mediate this association. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out in the provinces of Shandong, Henan, and Sichuan in China. A questionnaire was distributed to 4716 left-behind adolescents in ten middle/high schools. We performed Bayesian estimations in structural equation modeling using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm to test our hypotheses. RESULTS: Negative life events were significantly related to resilience (rs = - 0.402), self-esteem (rs = - 0.292), and positive social adjustment (rs = - 0.239). Positive social adjustment was directly affected by resilience (ß = 0.639) and self-esteem (ß = 0.448). Negative life events were not only directly related to positive social adjustment (ß = - 0.187, 95% credible interval: - 0.233 ~ - 0.139), but also showed an indirect effect on positive social adjustment (ß = - 0.541, 95% credible interval: - 0.583 ~ - 0.501) through resilience (ß = - 0.370) and self-esteem (ß = - 0.171). The total effect of negative life events on positive social adjustment was - 0.728, where 74.31% was mediated by resilience and self-esteem. The indirect effect of negative life events on positive social adjustment through resilience and self-esteem was 2.893 times more than the direct effect. CONCLUSIONS: Resilience and self-esteem mediated most of the effect of negative life events on positive social adjustment. Interventions should be developed to improve the social adjustment of adolescents who are left behind, particularly the enhancement of resilience and self-esteem.

Suicide ideation and suicide plan in Chinese left-behind children: Prevalence and associated factors.

OBJECTIVE: Suicide ideation (SI) and suicide plan (SP) can be seen as immediate precursors of suicide. The major aim of this study is to estimate the severity of SI and SP among LBC, and explore their associated factors. METHOD: A population-based random sampling survey of 2898 LBC was performed. Self-developed structured questionnaire was used to collect relevant information. The prevalence of one-week and lifetime SI and SP was estimated, univariate and multivariate logistic regression model were used to analyze the associated factors of SI in LBC, as well as the associated factors of SP in LBC who reported SI. RESULTS: For surveyed LBC, the one-week prevalence rates of SI and SP were 6.76% (95%CI: 5.30-8.00%) and 2.31% (95%CI: 1.80-2.93%), the lifetime prevalence rates of SI and SP were 20.8% (95%CI: 17.2-25.0%) and 7.69% (95%CI: 4.84-11.0%). Girls reported higher prevalence of SI, while SP severity showed insignificant gender difference. Sex, grade, SH behaviors, depression and psychological resilience were consistently associated with both one-week and lifetime SI. Age and depression were prominent influencing factors of SP in one-week suicide ideators, grade, self-harm history, depression, mother's education level were associated factors of SP in lifetime suicide ideators. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of SI and SA in Chinese LBC is high. Girls, junior high school students, self-harmed, depressed, less psychologically resilient individuals were observed increased prevalence of SI, depression may play a significant role in facilitating the transition from SI to SP.

Parcours migratoire d'un mineur non accompagné et sa destinée en France.

MIGRATION JOURNEY OF AN UNACCOMPANIED MINOR AND HIS DESTINY IN FRANCE.: Among migrants, unaccompanied minors are rendered particularly vulnerable by their journey, the trauma endured and their solitude. Once they have been confirmed as minors, they remain under the care of child protection services. The adolescent children's home in Bobigny, Casita, provides psychological trauma consultations for these young people. This article focuses on the journey of a 16-year-old who arrived in France less than two years ago.

Mental Health among Left-Behind Children in Rural China in Relation to Parent-Child Communication.

In China, there are an estimated 41 million left-behind children (LBC). The objective of this study was to examine the mental health of current-left-behind children (current-LBC) and previous-left-behind children (previous-LBC) as compared to never-left-behind children (never-LBC), while considering factors like parent-child communication. Children were recruited from schools in rural areas of Anhui province in eastern China. Participants completed a questionnaire focusing on migration status, mental health, and parent-child communication, measured with the validated Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and Parent-Adolescent Communication Scale (PACS). Full data were available for 1251 current-, 473 previous-, and 268 never-LBC in Anhui province. After adjusting for all confounding variables, the results showed that both current and previous parental migration was associated with significantly higher mental health difficulties, including aspects of emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity, and total difficulties. Additionally, we found that difficulties communicating with parents were strongly associated with the presence of greater total difficulties in children. Parental migration has an independent, long-lasting negative effect on children. Poor parent-child communication is strongly associated with children's mental health. These results indicate that parent-child communication is important for the development of children, and interventions are needed to improve migrant parents' understanding and communication skills with their children.