Trial lecture title: Traumatization and resilience: Are theories that emphasize vulnerability versus resilience in adolescence fundamentally different in their approach, or can they be combined?
Ordinary opponents:
- First opponent: Senior Researcher Anika Liversage, The Danish Center for Social Science Research (VIVE), Denmark
- Second opponent: Professor Emeritus Hanne Haavind, University of Oslo
- Chair of the Committee: Associate Professor Jonas Debesay, Faculty of Health Sciences, OsloMet
Leader of the public defense is Professor Mette Sagbakken, Department of Nursing and Health Promotion, Faculty of Health Sciences, OsloMet.
The main supervisor is Professor Sverre Varvin, Department of Nursing and Health Promotion, Faculty of Health Sciences, OsloMet. The co-supervisor is Karin Harsløf Hjelde, Oslo University Hospital.
Thesis abstract
Running parallel to the normative developmental tasks of childhood and adolescence are the specific challenges children in refugee families’ face. In addition to managing a new language, two or more sets of cultural norms and values, and new ecological surroundings, many parents and children struggle from consequences of traumatization, loss, and adversity.
This makes children in refugee families a particularly vulnerable group of migrants; their developmental needs, their dependency and their legal and social status make children and adolescents entitled to special care and assistance under the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Aim of the thesis
This thesis reports on a qualitative study undertaken to explore the experiences of young adults who grew up in Norway in a refugee family. It fills a gap in the research literature in that it examines an experience, which previously has been underexplored.
The overall aim of this doctoral thesis was to develop a deeper understanding of how the participants have managed and negotiated developmental tasks related to their social situation in exile across childhood and adolescence and into early adulthood.
More specifically, we wanted to explore the participants’ experiences of their situation in relation to their parents, siblings and family at large; experiences of themselves and their development; dual cultural situation; mental health, well-being and resilience as part of their cultural and social contexts.
The study
The study is embedded in epistemological and theoretical perspectives that facilitate exploration of the participants’ experiences and that focus on the contextual lives of children. In the context of this study, the participants are viewed and analysed as participants in situated activities.
The participants took part in semi-structured interviews designed to explore the participants’ subjective experiences of their situation and to elicit rich narratives. In addition, parental interviews were included for the study for paper III.
The main method of analysis is interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), a method of analysis grounded in phenomenology, hermeneutics and idiography.
Findings
Findings show that parental suffering have affected their daily life and development in different ways. The study also provides insight into how family relations, social arrangements and institutions which ideally should provide children with an inner security and a sense of stability and belonging fail to respond to the needs of the participants in a way that was meaningful to them.
Many of the participants lacked adults in their lives who were sensitive to their needs and who were able to provide modulated support. While the participants had been deeply involved in helping out and caring for others, their own needs were often overlooked. Nor had they been included in meaningful or genuine ways by health and social services.
Thus, the participants are trying to get by on their own in the circumstances in which they find themselves, negotiating and navigating difficult challenges and demands they encounter within the settings of their everyday lives. Many participants presented a projected self that appeared competent, compliant and resilient, while some described struggling with severe symptomatology.
The findings also show how children in refugee families are influenced by, and need to adapt to, multiple social and environmental contexts, each of which contains its own set of cultural norms, demands, and expectations.
Participants spoke of a sense of vulnerability which pervaded their lives, influencing their participation both inside and outside family life. However, despite being in a vulnerable position, they are actively trying to manage their complex and challenging life situations.
This PhD study underlines the importance of including children of refugees as informants in both practice and research, not only as a rights issue but also to ensure a valid and nuanced understanding of their needs.
This involves balancing the dilemma of recognising the vulnerabilities generated by the circumstances of living in an uprooted family with acknowledging their resourcefulness and agency to navigate and respond to the adversities they face.
