Gallery Presentation International Positive Psychology Association 7th IPPA World Congress 2021

Adversity, resilience and mental wellbeing during adolescence: Cross-country comparison of migrant and non-migrant youth (#190)

Justine M Gatt 1 , Rebecca Alexander 1 , Alan Emond 2 , Kim Foster 3 , Kristin Hadfield 4 , Amanda Mason-Jones 5 , Steve Reid 6 , Linda Theron 7 , Michael Ungar 8 , Trecia Wouldes 9 , Qiaobing Wu 10
  1. Neuroscience Research Australia & UNSW, Randwick, NSW, Australia
  2. Centre for Academic Child Health, University of Bristol Medical School, Bristol, UK
  3. School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
  4. Department of Biological and Experimental Psychology, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
  5. Department of Health Sciences, University of York, York, UK
  6. Primary Health Care Directorate, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
  7. Department of Educational Psychology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
  8. Resilience Research Centre, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
  9. Department of Psychological Medicine, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
  10. Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

Background

Resilience is a dynamic process of positive adaptation to significant adversity. While there has been substantial focus on risks and negative outcomes associated with youth migrancy, there is limited evidence of the relationship between the adversity of migration, and resilience, wellbeing, and positive mental health in adolescents. 

Hypotheses/Research Questions

This study aimed to explore the differences in resilience, wellbeing, and mental health behaviours in migrant and non-migrant adolescents tested across six countries (Australia, New Zealand, UK, China, South Africa, and Canada) with varying levels of trauma exposure. Wellbeing was measured using the COMPAS-W Wellbeing Scale (Gatt et al., 2014) and the WEMWBS (Tennant et al., 2007).

Sample Characteristics and Sample Size

A sample of 194 10–17 year old migrants and non-migrants. The migrant sample included both “internal” migrants (within a country) and “external” migrants (across national borders) for comparison (Gatt et al., 2020).  

Design

A cross-sectional survey design. 

Results

Across the sites, migrants reported a higher mean number of traumatic events for the past year than non-migrants, with internal migrants reporting more events than external migrants overall. South African adolescents reported a higher mean number of traumatic events for the past year than all other sites. External migrants reported higher resilience scores yet reduced prosocial behaviours relative to internal migrants and non-migrants, whereas both internal and external migrants reported higher peer problems than non-migrants. The presence or absence of trauma did not appear to impact migrant scores in terms of resilience, wellbeing, or conduct problems. In comparison, trauma-exposed non-migrants showed detriments relative to trauma exposed migrant peers for all of these measures.

Scientific Contribution

Future studies with larger prospective sample sizes are needed to investigate how levels of resilience and wellbeing vary over time, and ways resilience can be promoted in adolescents exposed to trauma, regardless of migrancy. 


 

  1. Gatt JM, Burton KL, Schofield PR, Bryant RA, Williams LM. (2014). The heritability of mental health and wellbeing defined using COMPAS-W, a new composite measure of wellbeing. Psychiatry Research, 219(1):204–13. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2014.04.033.
  2. Gatt JM, Alexander R, Emond A, Foster K, Hadfield K, Mason-Jones A, Reid S, Theron L, Ungar M, Wouldes T, Wu Q. (2020). Trauma, resilience and mental health in migrant and non-migrant youth: An international cross-sectional study across six countries. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 10, 997. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00997.
  3. Tennant R, Hiller L, Fishwick R, Platt S, Joseph S, Weich S, et al. (2007). The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS): development and UK validation. Health Qual Life Outcomes, 5(1):63. doi: 10.1186/1477-7525-5-63.
  • Keywords: Culture, Life span development, Positive emotions, Resilience and Posttraumatic Growth