Child and Adolescent Mental Health
Acculturation has been linked to increased levels of psychological distress among children and adolescent individuals migrating to new regions. The cultural and social change process necessitates individuals to balance between their dominant societal culture and the prevailing one at the time. In this case, the youth from minority cultures have been established to develop traumatic and stress conditions as a result of altering values and behaviours, such as language and practices (Moleiro, 2018). Specifically, empirical evidence links the acculturation process (assimilation, marginalization, and separation) among young refugee adults with psychopathology, an understanding of problems such as post-migration stress associated with mental illness.
According to Bogic et al., (2015), asylum seekers and immigrants often suffer from long-term mental challenges such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anxiety, even after adapting to the host cultural norms and practices. All migrants, including children and adolescents, must relate to the cultural ways of the host country, which in most cases differ from those practised back at home. This contact between two different cultures results in an acculturation process that modifies normal behaviours, customs, and attitudes, as well as mental wellbeing. When this dual process is considered problematic, it should be perceived as a risk factor for psychopathology or mental challenges of a given individual, as well as other significant social and mental factors (Moleiro, 2018). Compared to other groups, young individuals are said to be mainly confronted with post-migration living issues, potential traumatic cases, and challenging acculturation as risk factors for psychopathology (Bogic et al., 2015). Among children, established frequent kinds of psychopathology include depressive problems, trauma and stressors, personality disorders, neurocognitive and neurodevelopmental problems, dissociative disorders, and psychotic. Therefore, risk factors of mental wellbeing associated with challenging acculturation can adversely impact on children’s cultural identity, and in the long lead to negative effects on psychological health.
One of the major problems facilitated by the inevitable adoption of another culture is post-migration anxiety and stress among young individuals. For instance, refugee children have been described to face the following major stress factors: living without family; fear; barriers in language; and social disappointment (Groen et al., 2018). Having no contact with family and people to relate with induces loneliness and when prolonged develops mental health problems among the affected children. Further, disappointments within the new society such as diminished living standards and lack of basic amenities facilitate risk factors of developing psychopathology. In addition to adaptation challenges, children tend to face social problems such as access to proper education, legal rights, and homelessness.
For children who have been moved from their home country to a completely different host country, barriers to language and fear of harm and threats adversely impact on their mental wellbeing. Constrained language abilities among young individuals result in misunderstandings and limited capacity to communicate with other people (Moleiro, 2018). Moreover, children have been determined to express fear of harm on them and their relatives based on threat levels in the new region. With diminished social support, children and the youth are bound to encounter post-migration mental disorders that will adversely impact on their growth.
Refuge and young immigrant individuals encounter mental health problems as a result of psychopathology due to post-migration anxiety and stress. Children tend to face a tough time securing a firm position in the host society and numerous difficulties in learning and practising a new set of cultural values and beliefs. Therefore, these changes result in confusion in terms of cultural identity, which, in turn, develops mental disorders among young individuals.
References
Bogic M., Njoku A., &Priebe S; (2015) Long-term mental health of war-refugees: A systematic literature review. BMC Int Health Human Rights. 15:29–70.
Groen S. N., Richters J. M., Laban C. J., & Devillé W; (2018) Cultural Identity among Afghan and Iraqi Traumatized Refugees: Towards a Conceptual Framework for Mental Health Care Professionals. Cultural Med Psychiatry. 42: 69–91.
Moleiro, C. (2018). Culture and Psychopathology: New Perspectives on Research, Practice, and Clinical Training in a Globalized World. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 9(3), 366. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00366