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Resilience in Children Following Forced Migration

Serena Phan

Attallah College of Educational Studies, Chapman University

CSP 500-01 Introduction to Counseling/Mental Health Intervention

Dr. Maupin

19 November 2023
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Resilience in Children Following Forced Migration

Forced migration is the displacement or migration of people due to coercive, ongoing,

and increasing violence in a person's home region. It is an experience that most people never

even consider; however, for 31 million child migrants globally, it is their reality (Andrade et al.,

2023). This does not include child migrants who have endured forced migration, acclimated to

their new homes, and built lives for themselves. Bũgen et al., 2023 highlighted a statement made

by Yule W. Emanuel,2003:

It does not take much imagination to think of the experiences children may have had

in fleeing from their homes under threat, witnessing fighting and destruction, seeing

violent acts directed at their loved ones, leaving their friends and possessions behind,

marching or being transported in crowded vehicles, spending months in transit camps,

and eventually finding temporary respite in a country at peace while the authorities

decide whether the family can be granted permission to remain legally and

indefinitely.

Having knowledge regarding the forced migration of children is imperative to best support the

children and families during an uncertain period of their lives. Understanding factors of

resilience and how they may support them is essential to intervention solutions. This study

explores the impact of forced migration and subsequent war trauma on an individual who fled

Vietnam as a child. It also discusses protective factors that aided in her resilience.

Literature Review

Introduction

Forced migration refers to the displacement of people within their own countries or

across national borders, escaping persecution, conflict, repression, natural and human-made
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disasters, ecological degradation, or other situations that endanger their lives, freedom, or

livelihood (White, 2017). Since 1975, over one million immigrants and refugees from Vietnam

have resettled in the United States (Birman and Tran, 2008). In 2017 alone, over 50,000 refugees

were admitted to the United States, where those are at high risk for experiencing physical,

psychological, and cultural trauma because of forced migration (Adams and Kivlighan, 2019).

Families may find refuge in neighboring countries or countries worldwide, yet those who find

refuge may not be better off. Most times, help comes in the form of culturally unresponsive

interventions without consideration for the journey they went through and without cultural

considerations (McKee and Janson, 2001).

Mental Health Issues

Trauma in any form will have lasting effects on its victims. According to Adams and

Kivlighan (2019), existing research has suggested that refugee populations are at risk of mental

health problems, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depressive disorders

during both pre and post-forced migration periods. Mental health issues can be attributed to

postmigration stressors such as discrimination, poverty, lack of adequate housing, social

isolation, difficulty navigating U.S. society and cultures, lack of resources, and language barriers

(Kondili et al., 2023).

Many of those who fled Vietnam ended up in refugee camps spread across the world,

including Hong Kong. Refugee camps decreased their humanity and autonomy, aiding in the

stressful events that occur through pre- and post-forced migration, not considering the starvation

and poverty in the transit period, unemployment, and adjustment stress during resettlement (de

Carvalho and Pinto, 2018). These camps came with the belief that they were safe and free;

however, it was a cruel exaggeration of what life was like for those living there. The waiting
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period while living in refugee camps before receiving refugee status in a country exacerbates

stress and uncertainty (Birman and Trans, 2008).

Barriers to Acculturation and Language Acquisition

Refugee children are among the ELLs who are disproportionately being referred for

cognitive assessment of possible learning disorders and who are overrepresented in special

education settings (Kaplan et al., 2016). Specific, multilevel factors shape migration contexts,

children’s experiences of adaptation, and their adaption outcomes, including the global forces

that propel migration, sociopolitical contexts of settlement, and microsystem-level factors

(Gagńe et al., 2021). Language acquisition and acculturation can depend largely on protective

factors, the level of trauma endured, and the post-forced migration support that is given.

Before fleeing their homes, refugees lived in communities that shared the same values,

rituals, and cultural norms in which their everyday lives revolved around shared values and roles

(Boit et al., 2023). After migration, refugees often ended up in places where they were their

community with no help from others. Western cultures place a high value on individualism,

whereas Eastern cultures emphasize collective harmony; however, with the community's help,

refugees may understand how to acculturate to their new country (Birman and Tran, 2008).

Promotion of Resilience in Youth

Resilience is the ability to bounce back following adverse experiences. Protective factors

are assets and resources within the individual, their life, and their environment that facilitate the

capacity for adaptation and bouncing back in the face of adversity (Powell et al., 2021).

Protective factors promote resilience in children by allowing them to use their support systems in

possible challenges. It is valuable to know the current literature on protective factors after forced
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migration to understand how to best aid in the promotion of resilience and how to help families

affected by adversity.

Parental Resilience and Support

Parental resilience can be defined as the capacity of parents to deliver competent, quality

parenting to children despite adverse personal, family, and social circumstances (Sim et al.,

2019). This is a protective factor as the parents’ aspirations to improve their children’s lives

influence their parenting style, in which they spare no effort in preventing stressors and adversity

from affecting them. Research has shown that safe, supportive, nurturing environments reduce

the risk of negative health outcomes associated with adverse childhood experiences and promote

resilience in children (Woods-Jaeger et al., 2018).

A child’s personality, characteristics, and behavior are developed as they progress

through life, mainly from their parents. As such, parents have the most impact when it comes to

the development of their children. Parental support can be important for children as social

support can be lost following forced migration (Cole et al., 2022). As a result of forced migration

and the potential loss of support, children may lean on their parents for support, understanding,

and a sense of belonging. This creates a more profound connection between parent and child in

which children will come to their parents to uplift them in times of need, adding to their strength.

Social Support

Social support is defined as social relationships that provide material and interpersonal

resources valuable to the recipient, such as counseling, access to information and services,

sharing tasks and responsibilities, and skill acquisition (Thompson et al., 2006). Educators, a part

of one's social support, can help promote resilience in children by building on the strengths the

child already has. Early childhood educators can provide a secure relationship, which is
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especially critical for children who have experienced trauma because it can provide extra support

in times of stress (Sciaraffa et al., 2018). Other aspects of social support include friendships and

caregivers. Friendships enhance resiliency by increasing social skills, negating insecure

attachments, and increasing feelings of belonging (Cole et al., 2022). Through this positive

support, children find the strength to carry on by relying on the feelings that friendships give

them.

Self-Efficacy

Self-efficacy is the individual belief that one can complete a given task connected with a

desirable outcome and is a strong correlate of achievement (Bandura, 1977, as cited in McElvany

et al., 2018). Through self-efficacy, one believes that they can do anything they set their mind to.

In the context of refugees, a refugee's belief that they can succeed despite adversity is a strong

motivator for resilience. Research showed that a high level of efficacy increases motivation for

work, study, and exercise, is associated with lower levels of stress and psychological distress, has

a positive relationship with health-related quality of life, and has also been identified as an

essential predictor of post-traumatic recovery for collective trauma survivors (Sulaiman-Hill and

Thompson, 2013). A study by Schmees et al. (2022) showed that those with refugee backgrounds

had lower self-efficacy, optimism, sense of coherence, and self-control than their native

counterparts. Those with lower self-efficacy had a more challenging time acculturating to their

new life postmigration, in which refugees may fall victim to believing that events in their lives

may never get better because of their adversity paving the way for their futures. Self-efficacy

promotes resilience by motivating and prompting refugees to work through barriers to cultivate a

life they wish to achieve despite their challenges.

Methods
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Procedure

The participant in this study was referred to this researcher via family members.

Participant data was collected during two interviews. The first interview was a 1-hour meeting at

a local coffee shop where the study procedures, the participants' stories, and questions on her

resilience were discussed. The second interview occurred at the participant's residence, where we

spent 30 minutes discussing the life she built for herself following the adverse childhood

experience. When scheduling a meeting date and time, the participant was informed that

participation in the study was voluntary, that participation was confidential, and that any

identifying information would be changed. The questions asked intended to gain insight into

Brittney’s experience with forced migration, acculturation to life in the United States of

America, factors that aided in her strength, and mental health.

All articles referenced in this study were obtained through Chapman University's

Leatherby Library databases. Keywords used in searching for articles included "forced

migration," "resilience," "effects," and "factors." Articles were included if the focus of the study

aided in understanding the effects of forced migration in any capacity and resilience factors.

Interviewee

Britney (alias) fled Vietnam as a child due to the war between the North and South. The

Vietnam War started long before she was born but continued past birth, ultimately leading to her

family fleeing Vietnam and seeking refuge in Hong Kong and eventually The United States of

America. As Britney remembers it, her fleeing Vietnam was quite traumatic as a nine-year-old.

In the early night, her family snuck out of their house and fled to their grandma's house as the

Viet Cong were closing in around their neighborhood, taking all the houses for themselves.

There, they sought out options of how to escape. Escaping Vietnam wasn’t easy; they would be

sent to a concentration camp if caught. They managed to find a boat to take them to Hong Kong,
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but the boat owner changed his mind and would not let them on despite paying. At this point, her

father had chased the boat owner with a knife, threatening to murder him if they did not get on.

On the boat, they had to trek through a typhoon that almost took their life. They finally arrived in

Hong Kong and were placed in a refugee camp, facing even more adversity. A year later, they

were sponsored and arrived in the U.S.

Leaving the only home she knew without speaking any other language but Vietnamese

and Chinese reminded Britney that she was not home; she was in a placeholder. As an eleven-

year-old in North Carolina who did not know any English and was the only Asian student in her

grade, she faced tremendous setbacks and adversity. Britney and her family eventually moved to

Los Angeles, California, where the abundant Vietnamese community made her feel a little bit

more at home, but home is where the heart is, and she left her heart in Vietnam.

Findings

Resilience

Fleeing Vietnam, the only home Britney ever knew, was incredibly difficult and left her

with a gaping Vietnam-sized hole in her heart. Her experience in fleeing and migrating to an

unknown country left her with open wounds that needed healing. Upon completing all

interviews, it was evident that social support, self-efficacy, and parental resilience and support

aided Britney’s resilience and gave her the strength to continue.

Social Support

Brittney’s interview highlights social support's importance when she felt isolated and

alienated, giving her a sense of belongingness and hope. Peltonen et al. (2014), found that even

in the most challenging circumstances, friendship aided in the development of resilience and
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acted as a buffering effect. Brittney highlights a range of friendships that aided in her resilience

and educators who helped her acclimate to her new life.

The most significant source of social support for Brittney was her first friend in the

United States, who she says impacted her most during such a transitional period. Brittney, the

only Asian at her school, found solace in the first friend she ever made, an African-American girl

in South Carolina. The race of her first friend is essential to her story as they were both made to

be outcasts as they were the only ones of their race at the school. Birman and Tran (2008) discuss

cultural alienation and how individuals feel estranged from the surrounding culture rather than a

sense of connection, belonging, and “at home” in their new country. This is relevant to Brittney’s

story as the friend she had made her feel a sense of belonging in a foreign country.

Birman and Tran (2008) reported that the presence of a like-ethnic community appeared

to act as a positive mental health resource for Vietnamese refugees. Though Britney struggled to

speak English, her friend helped her review assignments during break and lunch, read books with

her, and taught her things about America, such as sports, what music was popular, and how to

dress. This aided her resilience as she had someone helping her acculturate to life in America

rather than figuring out how to herself.

Another source of social support that Brittney found was an educator in South Carolina.

Gagné et al. (2021) state that early academic skills strongly predict later outcomes. Brittney’s

teacher, who knew of her story, worked one-on-one with her to help strengthen the skills she

already had while working tirelessly to help teach her English. Her teachers’ efforts and her

friends aided her English language comprehension and fluency. This is pertinent to Britney’s

story because she emphasizes that she would not be where she is today without her perceived

social support.
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Self-Efficacy

Self-efficacy is the individual belief that one can successfully complete a given task

connected with a desirable outcome and is a strong correlate of achievement (Bandura, 1977, as

cited in McElvany et al., 2018). A study by Schmees et al. (2022) showed that those with refugee

backgrounds had lower self-efficacy, optimism, sense of coherence, and self-control than their

native counterparts. Britney’s self-efficacy wasn’t built overnight. She states that when she first

came to America, she did not care for life here. She was not motivated to do anything that

encompassed life in America; she desperately wanted life in Vietnam.

Britney’s parents faced hardship when they came to the United States. Day in and day

out, they struggled to put food on the table and provide necessities for her and ten other siblings.

At the same time, she watched desperately, trying to find a way to solve their poverty issues but

lacking resources as a child. This was a pivotal period for Britney that fueled her self-efficacy.

She wanted better for her life and her children and wanted to ease the poverty her parents faced.

Through her self-efficacy, Britney strived to do better in school day by day. She wanted a

college education to provide for her family. Inspired by her parents and educators, Britney

became a teacher to help students who faced similar experiences as her succeed. She attributes

her success to watching her parents struggle and her drive for a better life. She reminds herself of

what life was like living in poverty as motivation to succeed in everything she does.

Parental Resilience and Support

Britney emphasizes that her family played a big role in supporting her before and after

her transition to the United States, which aided her resilience. A microsystem is a range of people

or interactions that a person has within their immediate setting and is part of the basis of

Bronfenbrenner’s and Morris’s bioecological framework (Pérez et al., 2021). Sciaraffa et al.
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(2017) highlights how (Bronfenbrenner, 2005) proposed that for a child to become resilient, he

or she needs at least one adult who deeply cares for him or her and provides support. Britney’s

parents constantly paved the way for a conversation on how she was doing in school and how

she felt post-migration. Within these conversations, Britney would openly express her struggles

and wishes, which were then met with advice and empathy from her parents. She illustrates how

much this aided her resilience as she was given an outlet to discuss her feelings rather than bottle

things in.

According to Woods-Jaeger et al. (2018), resilience-promoting factors that emerged from

in-depth interviews include open communication, expressions of love, and close family

relationships. Microsystems are essential when discussing resilience-promoting factors, as they

include anyone a person has direct contact with, such as parents and siblings. Britney’s story

shows how her parents aided in her resilience by openly communicating with her, expressing

their love for her by checking in on her, and the close family relationship built following their

forced migration.

Discussion

The research regarding the psychological and developmental effects of forced migration

and factors that initiate resilience in children correspond with the study of Brittney’s life. Her

protective factors, such as social support, parental resilience, and self-efficacy, played a

particularly big role in her resilience as it was found that protective factors significantly

correlated with a more positive quality of life (Powell et al., 2021).

With her ecosystem, Britney found power in her pain, resulting in her dreams coming to

fruition as she grew older. Her teacher in South Carolina inspired her to become a teacher

herself, supporting students in a diverse community like her teacher once did for her. Her
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parents, who aspired to improve their child’s life, prompted her to use her strengths to work

through her pain. Britney's ecosystem, a community of those who provided a safe and

welcoming environment and self-efficacy, helped promote resilience in the face of adversity

(Sciaraffa et al., 2017). Britney’s experience exemplified the need for educators to practice with a

diverse lens and be conscious of a student's ecosystem and how that can promote resilience.

Implications

As future school counselors, it is imperative to be aware of today's diverse society. This

includes people of different religions, races, and ethnicities and how those factors may affect

development and experiences. Britney fled Vietnam and came to the United States of America

when she was eleven years old. She and her family fled due to the ongoing war in the country

and the increasing violence. This is pertinent to school counselors as research indicated that

exposure to community adversity and violence was associated with higher mental health and

behavioral issues (Irsheid et al., 2021).

When working with students who have faced forced migration, thus carrying war trauma,

a school counselor should use Bronfenbrenner’s and Morris’s bioecological framework to

understand the range of support that a student may have. School counselors must consider a

student's microsystems and macrosystems when evaluating what school-based interventions to

use when conducting social-emotional interventions for refugee students. Along with looking at a

student’s ecological system, looking at the whole child and their environment is the best practice

for school counselors.

As experienced by Britney, protective factors, such as parental resilience and social

support, aided in her resilience. With this knowledge, school counselors must include a student's

protective factors when discussing how to support them in schools best. This aids in a student’s
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resilience by allowing them to recognize the circumstances in which they can continue moving

each day.

Limitations

There are several limitations to be discussed. The participant had an extremely large

support system as she was the youngest of eleven siblings. She also had an older sibling who had

immigrated to America and was already accustomed to the United States of America when the

rest of her family fled Vietnam. The most significant attribution to her resilience was her

ecosystem and self-efficacy. This may not be the same for others with war trauma who have

faced forced migration. Her self-efficacy was based on her lack of resources when she came to

the United States and watched her parents struggle to provide necessities. Future research on

self-efficacy and parental trauma is needed to determine whether these have effects on resilience

in children who face forced migration.

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Postscript: Reflective Essay

It was a privilege to listen to Britney’s story and how she overcame her experience of

forced migration. I am amazed by Britney’s openness to sharing her story and her drive to

educate others regarding forced migration and the impacts of war on children. As an individual

whose parents also experienced forced migration, listening to Britney’s experience was difficult.

Hearing Britney’s story shed light on the traumatic experiences of fleeing Vietnam, something

my parents shielded me from when telling their own story. It was also challenging to process

Britney’s story when researching as I am Vietnamese American, resulting in the study hitting

closer to home than I initially thought it would.

I am amazed at Britney’s resilience. One thing that struck me during the interview was

Britney’s chosen career path. She used a negative aspect of her experience and turned it into

something positive. Britney’s dedication to helping students who are in need is inspiring. She

highlighted how her teacher in South Carolina impacted her life so significantly that she wanted

to follow in her footsteps, which I thought was beautiful. However, she mentioned that this

teacher was so significant because no other teacher had ever had as much empathy and care for

her as a student. I was incredibly disappointed that Britney never found another teacher like the

one in South Carolina. Britney’s story highlights the importance of having caring and empathetic

educators, admin, and other staff at school. As a future school counselor, I believe it is crucial to

work with a diverse lens and speak up about educators, administrators, and staff's shortcomings

to discuss how we can best serve students.