Peer-reviewed article
The Role of Resilience in Relation to Depression, Anxiety, Stress, and Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms Among Syrian Refugee Adolescents in Türkiye.
Özaslan A, Yıldırım M, Öztürk FN, Songür İA, Aksu MH et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how resilience relates to mental health problems and post-traumatic stress in 501 Syrian refugee adolescents aged 12–18 living in Ankara, Türkiye. The researchers found that higher resilience was associated with lower levels of depression, anxiety, stress, and post-traumatic stress symptoms, even after accounting for age and gender. However, resilience explained only a small portion of the variation in these mental health outcomes. The authors conclude that while resilience matters, more research is needed to understand causation and to identify the full range of factors that support refugee adolescents' mental health.
Key points
- Resilience was significantly negatively associated with depression, anxiety, stress, intrusion, and avoidance symptoms
- The effect of resilience explained 1–3% of unique variance in mental health outcomes after controlling for age and gender
- Depression had the smallest association with resilience (β = -0.11), while anxiety had the strongest (β = -0.19)
- Study participants were 501 Syrian refugee adolescents in Ankara, with mean age 15.72 years, recruited through multistage cluster sampling from 15 schools
- Authors note that longitudinal studies with measures of trauma exposure and multi-level resilience resources are needed before drawing causal or intervention conclusions
Limitations
This is a cross-sectional correlational study, so causation cannot be determined. The modest variance explained by resilience (1–3%) indicates that other unmeasured factors play important roles in mental health outcomes among refugee adolescents.
Abstract
Objectives: Mental health problems and post-traumatic stress symptoms are prevalent among adolescent refugees, yet little is known about the role of resilience in relation to these difficulties among Syrian adolescents. This study examined the unique contribution of resilience to mental health problems and post-traumatic stress symptoms after controlling for age and gender. Methods: Participants were 501 Syrian refugee adolescents residing in Ankara, Türkiye (63.67% male; aged 12-18 years, M = 15.72, SD = 1.61), recruited through multistage cluster sampling in 15 schools. They completed the Brief Resilience Scale, the Children's Revised Impact of Event Scale (CRIES), the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale, and a socio-demographic questionnaire. Five hierarchical multiple regressions were conducted, entering age and gender at Step 1 and resilience at Step 2. Results: After controlling for age and gender, resilience was significantly and negatively associated with depression (β = -0.11, p < 0.05), anxiety (β = -0.19, p < 0.01), stress (β = -0.15, p < 0.01), intrusion (β = -0.14, p < 0.01), and avoidance (β = -0.15, p < 0.01), explaining a modest but consistent proportion of unique variance (1-3%). Conclusions: These findings suggest that resilience is a modest but consistent correlate of mental health and post-traumatic stress symptoms among Syrian refugee adolescents in Türkiye. Longitudinal studies incorporating trauma exposure and multi-level resilience resources are needed before causal or intervention-related conclusions can be drawn.