Trauma, post-migration stress, and mental health among forcibly displaced people in Germany: Does resilience have a protective effect?

BACKGROUND

Forcibly displaced people represent a highly resilient population, but research has predominantly focused on risk factors that render them more vulnerable to mental health difficulties, such as traumatic experiences and post-migration stress. While previous studies have reported potential protective factors such as resilience and religiosity, little is known about their actual impact on risk factors.

AIMS: This research examines the interplay between potential protective factors (resilience and religiosity), post-migration stress (post-migration living difficulties and perceived discrimination), potentially traumatizing experiences, and mental health among forcibly displaced people from the Middle East.

METHODS

Forcibly displaced people from the Middle East (Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran) (N = 149) residing in Germany completed a questionnaire including measures of psychological distress (GHQ-12), symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; PDS) and depression (PHQ-9), perceived discrimination (EDS), post-migration living difficulties (PMLD), resilience (CD-RISC), and religiosity (DUREL).

RESULTS

Symptom-specific regression models revealed that individuals who perceived higher discrimination experienced more psychological distress, while those who experienced stronger post-migration living difficulties showed higher symptoms of depression and PTSD. The number of potentially traumatizing events predicted symptoms of PTSD. Resilience was associated with less psychological distress and lower levels of depression and PTSD, but did not moderate the associations of potentially traumatizing experiences, post-migration living difficulties, and perceived discrimination with the mental health outcomes. There was no association between religiosity and mental health.

CONCLUSION

Past traumatic experiences and present post-displacement context-related stressors constitute risk factors for poorer mental health among forcibly displaced people, with present context-related stressors appearing to have a more decisive impact on mental health difficulties. Resilience exerted a non-specific protective effect, acting as a general buffer against poor mental health but not against the effects of potentially traumatizing experiences, post-migration living difficulties, and perceived discrimination.