Resilience among young adult refugees, the role of connectedness and gender

Abstract

Due to the ongoing war in Syria, 6,3 million people have been displaced since 2011. As a result of this, over 2,500 Syrian refugees seek asylum in the Netherlands every year. Promoting resilient coping in refugees is essential to aid them in overcoming adversity and integrating into their new communities. Previous research has shown that young people who experience social support from adults in their community have a tendency to cope with adversity more effectively than those who do not. As of yet, it is unclear if community connectedness is positively associated with resilient coping in young adult refugees. The current study aimed to gain insight into this relationship, and also investigated whether this association was moderated by gender. Fifty-six young adult Syrian refugees now residing in the Netherlands completed self-report measures relating to their feelings towards their new milieus and the capacity to which they utilise a resilient coping style. No evidence was found for a statistically significant relationship between community connectedness and resilient coping. Furthermore, no evidence was found to show gender moderating this potential association. Despite the non-significance of the results of the present study, this area is one that requires attention in order to support refugees in the Netherlands as much as possible.