Department of Psychology, University of Roehampton, London, United Kingdom.
Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien, Tübingen, Germany.
PLoS One. 2018 Oct 25;13(10):e0206522. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0206522. eCollection 2018.
Civil war, flight, escape and expulsion are extremely stressful and assert a negative impact on refugees' mental health. However scientific research about resilience and coping of refugees is scarce. Especially in the recent refugee crisis, calls have been made to consider factors contributing to coping and resilience in this vulnerable population. Therefore, the current research sought to investigate individual differences that could serve as antecedents of coping and contextual factors that might moderate these effects. Specifically, it took into account individual's self-regulatory differences in terms of regulatory focus (i.e., a promotion focus on nurturance needs, ideals and gains vs. a prevention focus on security needs, oughts and losses). It furthermore explored contextual influences by considering Syrian refugees in Turkey (Sample 1, N = 273) and Germany (Sample 2, N = 169). Compared to Syrian refugees in Turkey, those in Germany had a stronger promotion focus. They also reported more problem-focused and less maladaptive coping, as well as less symptoms. Both promotion and prevention focus were positively related to problem-focused coping. Problem-focused coping, in turn, predicted more symptoms in Turkey but not in Germany. Furthermore, a stronger promotion focus was associated with less symptoms and maladaptive coping was associated with more symptoms in both samples. These results contribute to the coping literature in demonstrating that under certain conditions problem-focused coping can be maladaptive and extend the scarce previous work on self-regulation and coping. Most importantly, they highlight a promotion focus as a clear resilience factor and the role of maladaptive coping in increasing vulnerability. As such, they might inform the design of effective interventions among Syrian refugees and beyond.
内战、逃亡、逃离和驱逐是极其有压力的，会对难民的心理健康产生负面影响。然而，关于难民的适应力和应对策略的科学研究却很少。尤其是在最近的难民危机中，人们呼吁考虑导致这一脆弱群体应对和适应的因素。因此，目前的研究旨在调查可能成为应对策略和适应策略前因的个体差异，以及可能调节这些影响的背景因素。具体来说，它考虑了个体在监管焦点方面的自我监管差异（即促进对关怀需求、理想和收益的关注，而预防则关注安全需求、责任和损失）。它还通过考虑在土耳其的叙利亚难民（样本 1，N=273）和德国的叙利亚难民（样本 2，N=169）来探讨背景影响。与在土耳其的叙利亚难民相比，在德国的叙利亚难民有更强的促进焦点。他们还报告了更多的问题焦点和较少的适应不良应对，以及较少的症状。促进焦点和预防焦点都与问题焦点应对呈正相关。反过来，问题焦点应对在土耳其与更多的症状相关，但在德国则没有。此外，在两个样本中，较强的促进焦点与较少的症状和适应不良应对相关，而适应不良应对与更多的症状相关。这些结果为应对文献做出了贡献，表明在某些情况下，问题焦点应对可能是适应不良的，并扩展了关于自我调节和应对的稀缺的先前工作。最重要的是，它们强调了促进焦点作为一个明显的适应力因素和适应不良应对在增加脆弱性方面的作用。因此，它们可能会为在叙利亚难民和其他地区设计有效的干预措施提供信息。
