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Personality and Psychopathology in African Unaccompanied Refugee Minors: Repression, Resilience and Vulnerability

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Abstract

Examining personality and psychopathological symptoms among unaccompanied refugee minors (URMs), we measured intra-individual dimensions (repression and correlates thereof) usually associated with resilience. Forty-one URMs completed the Weinberger Adjustment Inventory (WAI), assessing personality, and the Youth Self-Report (YSR), describing current symptoms. URMs endorsed high levels of Repressive Defensiveness, Denial of Distress, and Restraint; unexpectedly, URMs reported high Distress and reduced Happiness (WAI, p’s < 0.05). Although YSR symptoms were below clinical cut points, there were notable correlations between Distress and Attention Problems, Self-destructive, and Aggressive Behavior (all on the YSR), correcting for multiple comparisons (p’s < 0.004). URMs exposed to non-normative stressors reported non-symptomatic outcomes, and high levels of personality dimensions correlating with resilience. However, URMs also endorsed high Distress and low Happiness, calling their resilience into question. Positive correlations between WAI Distress and YSR symptom subscales suggest that URMs harbor vulnerabilities of clinical and forensic significance.

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Notes

  1. Depression in the WAI is not comparable to the clinical construct of depression, but rather is a subscale of the WAI describing aspects of adjustment, which are represented by internalizing behavior and negative emotionality.

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Conflicts of interests

The authors report no conflicts of interests. The study’s implementation was enabled by a grant (Jubilaeumsfonds) from the Austrian National Bank to Sabine Völkl-Kernstock.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, 1090, Vienna, Austria

    Julia Huemer, Sabine Völkl-Kernstock, Michaela Mitterer & Max Friedrich

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, The University of Chicago, 5841 S. Maryland, MC 3077, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA

    Niranjan Karnik

  3. Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Miami, 5665 Ponce de Leon Boulevard, Miami, FL, 33146, USA

    Katherine G. Denny

  4. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Child Psychiatry and Child Development, Stanford University School of Medicine, 401 Quarry Road, Stanford, CA, 94305-5719, USA

    Keith Humphreys, Richard J. Shaw & Hans Steiner

  5. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Forensic Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Zurich, Neptunstrasse 60, 8032, Zurich, Switzerland

    Belinda Plattner

  6. Rohrbach Hospital, Krankenhausstraße 1, 4150, Rohrbach, Austria

    Elisabeth Granditsch

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  1. Julia Huemer
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  2. Sabine Völkl-Kernstock
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Correspondence to Julia Huemer.

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Huemer, J., Völkl-Kernstock, S., Karnik, N. et al. Personality and Psychopathology in African Unaccompanied Refugee Minors: Repression, Resilience and Vulnerability. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 44, 39–50 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-012-0308-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-012-0308-z

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