Posttraumatic stress disorder and emotion dysregulation among Syrian refugee children and adolescents resettled in Lebanon and Jordan

BackgroundSince the outbreak of the conflict in Syria, many people, including children and adolescents, have fled their homes into neighboring countries. Little research exists on the psychosocial adjustment of refugee children and adolescents resettled in Lebanon and Jordan.ObjectiveThis study investigated the prevalence and predictors of PTSD and emotion dysregulation in Syrian refugee children and adolescents who resettled in Lebanon and Jordan. It was hypothesized that a combination of pre-trauma variables (age and gender), trauma-specific variables (traumatic events and time spent in host country, and host country), and post-trauma variables (coping strategies, family relationships, and school environment) would be associated with PTSD and emotion dysregulation.Participants and SettingParticipants were 1000 Syrian refugee children and adolescents aged 7–18 years attending formal and non-formal schools representing various governorates in Lebanon and Jordan.MethodsThe trauma exposure scale, DSM-IV criteria for the assessment of PTSD, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale Short Form, Kidcope, Family relationship scales, and school environment scale were administered in an interview format with children and adolescents at school by two trained psychologists. Multivariate binary logistic regression was used to predict PTSD whereas hierarchical multiple regression was used to predict emotion dysregulation.ResultsResults indicated that 45.6% of the refugees have developed PTSD with excessive risk for comorbidity with emotion dysregulation. Emotion dysregulation was reported by older refugee children and adolescents. The prevalence of PTSD was higher in refugee children and adolescents who had resettled in Lebanon than for those who had resettled in Jordan. Refugee children and adolescents who were exposed to higher levels of war atrocities evidenced the greatest prevalence of PTSD and emotion dysregulation. PTSD symptomatology and emotion dysregulation in children and adolescents varied according to coping styles, family relationships, and school environment. Both decreased significantly with the passage of time spent in host country.ConclusionsThe results may be used to formulate cognitive–behavioral coping interventions that can lead to optimal developmental outcomes in the posttrauma environment.     

Teaching Secondary School Students with Learning Disabilities to Cope in Preparation for College

The purpose of this article is to explore how to teach secondary school students with learning disabilities (LD) to cope effectively, so they may develop self-determination (independence) skills in secondary school and beyond, in college. Teachers need to know about coping and what makes it effective in school as well as in a college context. I describe psychological concerns and methods of teaching that can allow students with LD to cope effectively in secondary school and in college.     

我国人口老龄化趋势下的体育应对策略

研究我国人口老龄化趋势下的体育应对策略,为发挥体育在人口老龄化趋势下的积极作用提供理论参考.我国人口老龄化趋势下,体育对老年人生活方式、生活理念等方面产生积极影响,需要通过建立和完善老年人体育健身服务体系,加强老年人健身娱乐保障制度建设,积极为老年人创造良好的体育健身环境,以此来逐步提高老年人生活水平和质量.     

Inclusion in Israel: coping resources and job satisfaction as explanatory factors of stress in two cultural groups

The aim of this study was to explore the differences between the two cultural groups of Jewish and Arab teachers on several variables and to analyse their link to stress. Specifically, I examined sense of coherence (SOC), sense of school community and job satisfaction among regular Jewish and Arab teachers in regular schools and classes who have special education students in their classes. Furthermore, I investigated how the different coping resources – SOC and sense of school community – explain the stress reactions of state anxiety and state anger directly and indirectly via job satisfaction and also the direct prediction of stress by job satisfaction. Data were gathered from 634 Jewish and Arab teachers (80% Jews) who completed self‐report questionnaires that measured SOC, sense of community, employee satisfaction inventory, state anxiety and state anger. Differences in SOC and sense of school community were found between the two groups such that Jews reported stronger SOC, and Arabs reported stronger sense of school community. Further differences were revealed in the links of the different coping resources to stress reactions. The results are discussed against the backdrop of cultural background and the salutogenic model.     

Coping strategies and burnout in staff working with students with special educational needs and disabilities

Research on special educator burnout has predominantly focused on demographic, environmental and situational factors, with few studies exploring individual characteristics. This cross-sectional self-report study focused on coping strategies as predictors of burnout among Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) staff. The survey results from 169 participants showed that emotional coping predicted greater levels of burnout. In addition, avoidance coping predicted higher levels of disengagement, whereas rational coping predicted lower levels of disengagement. These results emphasize the importance of examining individual characteristics in SEND staff burnout. This would have implications for monitoring and addressing the psychological wellbeing of SEND staff.     

Acculturation attitudes and adaptation among South Korean residents in Japan: The mediating role of coping strategies

Acculturation processes and intergroup experiences of minority groups have been little studied in East Asian societies, including Japan. The number of migrants in Japanese society is steadily increasing, suggesting that the country is a new immigration destination in the 21st century. Therefore, further research on the acculturation processes of immigrants in Japan is warranted. This study examined the relationships among acculturation attitudes, coping strategies, and psychological adjustment in a sample of South Korean newcomers living in Japan. The results of this study support the integration hypothesis, which states that balanced acculturation attitudes that favor engagement in both the host and home cultures lead to higher levels of psychological and sociocultural adaptation. Assimilation attitudes did not contribute significantly to adaptation. Different coping strategies employed by individuals during interethnic discrimination mediated the links between individual acculturation attitudes and the two aspects of adaptation. By linking acculturation attitudes and relevant social behaviors, this study sheds light on the role of coping strategies as mediators of the relationships between acculturation attitudes and psychological and sociocultural adjustment in ethnic minority groups.     

Traumatic experiences,acculturation, and psychological distress among Syrian refugees in Turkey: The mediating role of coping strategies

Turkey hosts the largest number of refugees in the world. So far, many studies investigated the mental health problems among Syrian refugees in Turkey and other hosting countries. However, little attention has been paid to the acculturation process of Syrian refugees in Turkey. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 409 Syrian refugees in Mardin, Turkey. Results showed that traumatic experiences depleted problem-focused, emotion-focused, and maladaptive coping strategies. Emotion-focused coping strategies mediated the relationship between traumatic experiences and maintenance of the heritage culture and adoption of the destination culture. To conclude, our findings underscore the importance of traumatic experiences and emotion-focused coping strategies for integration of Syrian refugees in Turkey. Psychosocial interventions enhancing emotion-focused coping capacities might mitigate the adverse impact of traumatic experiences on integration. We discussed the strengths and limitations of the study considering the current literature.     

Inconsistency of decision-making,the Achilles heel of referees

This study assessed whether decisions made by six qualified referees were consistent when watching the live 2016 televised Champions League Final. Referees were paired off into three separate rooms. Two referees watched the game with no supporters present. Two watched the game surrounded by Real Madrid supporters, and the remaining two watched the game surrounded by Athletic Madrid supporters. Referees were asked to decide whether each decision made by the on-field referee was either correct or incorrect. Results identified two types of refereeing inconsistency. The first type was a systematic tendency of the supporting crowds (both rooms) to influence the adjudicating referees to make fewer incorrect (disagree with the on-field referee) decisions (8 and 5) than referees in the “no supporters” room (19) (χ² = 11.22 [df = 2], P = 0.004). The second type of inconsistency was the home advantage “bias”, where the surrounding crowd influenced the adjudicating referees to favour their team, by disagreeing with the decision made by the on-field referee (χ² = 6.0 [df = 2], P = 0.0498). One explanation for these inconsistencies is that referees adopt a coping strategy of “avoidance”, i.e., when faced with difficult decisions, referees simply avoid making unpopular decisions by waving “play on”.     

Immigrant women’s acculturation stress and coping strategies in Korea: A qualitative analysis

The aim of this study was to explore the coping strategies used by migrant women experiencing acculturation stress in Korea. A qualitative content analysis of 20 transcribed individual interviews was used to describe and explore women’s experiences of acculturation into a Korean family and Korean culture. The findings could be summarized by the theme “A life with a family rooted in the 2nd homeland,” consisting of the following coping strategies: agreeing on cultural differences, accepting one’s limitations, respecting one’s own decision, sharing problems, learning about the Korean culture, enjoying one’s homeland culture, caring about identity diffusion, and helping survival. The results showed that the women experienced considerable acculturation stress, and they made tremendous efforts to align themselves with the Korean culture and with women’s lives in a Korean family. The processes and strategies that these women used to manage acculturation stress can be used by professionals to develop empirical guidelines to help other women experiencing acculturation stress. More research on various acculturation conditions and populations is required to generalize the results of this study.