Future orientation of youth with a history of war trauma: a qualitative study in the African context.

Adolescence is an important developmental period for social relationships, identity formation and future planning. Traumatic experiences, such as war and persecution, may interfere with optimal development, including the future orientation of adolescents. The present study examines how young adult war survivors construct, make sense of, and narrate their future goals, plans, and expectations. The participants were 13 Liberian 25-35-year old male and female refugees living in Ghana. This qualitative study is based on semi-structured interviews with prompting questions. By applying a phenomenological approach the interview transcripts were categorized into themes and subthemes about future orientations. Results revealed three main themes, two of them desired a positive future orientation, indicating optimism and determination to improve one's own life and to contribute to a flourishing nation and to peacebuilding. The third theme illustrated a failure to reconstruct war-shattered lives and involved pessimistic views of the future. The results are discussed in relation to peacebuilding and the developmental challenges of young adults as war survivors.

Potential of visible and near infrared spectroscopy coupled with machine learning for predicting soil metal concentrations at the regional scale.

Chemical analytical methods for metal analysis in soils are laborious, time-consuming and costly. This paper aims to evaluate the potential of short-range (SR) and full-range (FR) visible and infrared spectroscopy (vis-NIR) combined with linear and nonlinear calibration methods to estimate concentrations of nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb) and copper (Cu) in soils. A total of 435 soil samples were collected over agricultural sites, forest (7 %), pasture (5 %) and fallow land across a region in the northern part of Belgium. Generally, better predictions were obtained when using partial least squares regression (PLSR) and nonlinear calibration method [i.e., random forest (RF)] for processing of the spectral data, than when using support vector machine (SVM). FR generally outperformed SR and provided the best prediction results for Ni (R2p = 0.76), Co (R2p = 0.77), Cd (R2p = 0.64) and Pb (R2p = 0.65), when using PLSR and RF. SVM produced the best prediction result only for Pb (R2p = 0.57) using the SR spectra. The metals Ni, Co, Cd and Pb can be predicted successfully (good accuracy) from the FR vis-NIR spectra using PLSR for Co, and RF for Ni, Cd, Pb and Cu. Compared to the FR spectrophotometer, improvement in accuracy was obtained for Cd and Co, using the SR spectra when combined with PLSR and RF, respectively. It is concluded that the SR spectrometer can be used successfully for the prediction of Co with RF (R2p = 0.70), while it best predicted Cd with PLSR with an R2p value of 0.67, which is of value for regional survey.

The content and meaning of war experiences: A qualitative study of trauma and resilience among Liberian young refugees in Ghana.

Abundant research has shown that traumatic war experiences can interfere with the mental health and wellbeing of children and adolescents, but less is known about the subjective experiences and views of war survivors. The present study identified and described the different types of war experiences of young refugees in an African context and analyzed how they perceived the meanings and impact of war on their lives. The participants were 13 Liberian 25-35-year-old male and female refugees living in Ghana who agreed to take part in semi-structured interviews based on the life history approach. The transcripts were analyzed using a phenomenological method to detect themes incorporating multiple subthemes. The results revealed five main themes about war experiences, all negative in nature: pain and humiliation, loss of close relationships, horrific scenes, threats to life, and fleeing for one's life. Concerning the perceived meanings and impact of war, the results identified six main themes. Three of them were positive in nature: increased awareness of life, compassion for life, and identification with those suffering. The negative main themes incorporated vivid horrific memories, deprivation of age-appropriate opportunities, and self-harm and destructive behavior. Our findings suggest that young war survivors may be highly motivated to participate in nation- and peace-building and should be provided opportunities to contribute to broader political and civic life.

How stressful life events and violence are related to mental health: the protective role of social relations in African context.

Adolescents are universally expected to be at risk for heightened stress and violence, and subsequently to mental health problems. Good social relationships may protect their mental health, but research has mainly focused on singular relations, such as peer popularity or general social support. The current study analyses the buffering role of multiple relationships in an African context. First, how stressful life-events and violent experiences are associated to mental health, and, second, whether good social relationships with parents, siblings and peers can buffer mental health from stress and violence. The participants were 415 Ghanaian students (aged 14-17 years, M = 16.51; 71% girls). They indicated mental health by depressive symptoms and psychological distress and reported the quality of parental (support and control), sibling (warmth and rivalry) and peer relationships, and exposure to stressful life-events and violence. Hierarchical linear regression models with main and interaction effects were used to analyze the data. Only stressful life-events, but not violence, were associated with higher levels of depressive and psychological distress symptoms. Positive sibling relationships played a buffering mental health role, as stressful life-events were not related with increased depressive symptoms among adolescents enjoying warm and intimate siblingships. No protective function was found for parental or peer relationships, although good maternal and peer relationships were associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms in general.

Emotional intelligence and cognitive skills protecting mental health from stress and violence among Ghanaian youth.

This study investigates the protective mental health function of high emotional intelligence (EI), and cognitive skills (CS) among Ghanaian adolescents when exposed to stressful life-events and violence. It examines, first, how exposure to stressful life-events and violent experiences is associated with mental health, indicated by depressive and psychological distress symptoms, and, second, whether EI and CS could serve as possible moderators between stress, violence and mental health problems. Participants were 415 Ghanaian secondary education students. They reported about their depressive symptoms (Bireleson), psychological distress (Strength and Difficult Questionnaire, SDQ), and emotional intelligence (Trait Emotional Intelligence Question-naire, TEIQue), cognitive skills (The Amsterdam Executive Function Inventory). They also reported their stressful life-events and violent experiences. Statistical analyses were conducted using structural equation modeling (SEM). As hypothesized, high level of stressful life events were associated with high levels of depressive symptoms and psychological distress. Yet violent experiences did not associate with mental health problems. Against hypothesis, high levels of EI and CS could not protect adolescents mental health from negative effects of stressful life events or violent experiences. A direct effects were found between low level of EI and CS and high level of mental health problems. The results are discussed in relations to psychological and cultural factors present in EI and CS in adolescence.