The impact of violence on the well-being of refugee men living in Türkiye who experienced the Syrian civil war: A mixed-methods study

Objective: This study aims to examine, using a mixed-methods approach, the impact of Syrian male refugees' exposure to violence during the conflict on their well-being through social problem-solving skills, social relationships, and life satisfaction.. Method: This study was conducted using a mixed-methods research design that integrates quantitative and qualitative research methods. The quantitative sample consisted of 500 Syrian refugee men aged between 25 and 45, reached through snowball sampling. For the quantitative component, the War Trauma Exposure Scale, Social Relationships Scale, Social Problem-Solving Inventory–Short Form, and Life Satisfaction Scale were applied During the analysis of quantitative data, confirmatory factor analysis, difference analyses, correlation analysis, and mediation analysis techniques were utilized; analyses were conducted using SPSS 25, the SPSS PROCESS macro, and AMOS 24. For the qualitative component, a purposive sampling method was used to form a sample of 14 Syrian refugee men with exposure to conflict-related violence, residing in Istanbul, Adana, and Gaziantep. A semi-structured interview form developed by the researcher was used for data collection. Qualitative data were analyzed through coding of interview transcripts, and analyses were conducted using MAXQDA 24. Findings and Conclusion: The quantitative findings indicated that the participants' mean life satisfaction score was 2.18, while their conflict-related violence exposure score was 1.61. The results established that exposure to violence significantly and negatively affected life satisfaction as well as family and friendship relationships, while significantly and positively affecting positive problem orientation. Furthermore, both positive problem orientation and family and friendship relationships were found to have a direct, significant, and positive effect on life satisfaction. Mediation analyses revealed that the direct negative effect of violence exposure on life satisfaction demonstrated a positive suppressor mediating role through positive problem orientation; this suggests that trauma simultaneously triggers individuals' problem-solving capacity, thereby suppressing its negative impact. Additionally, family and friendship relationships were found to have a partial mediating role in the effect of violence exposure on life satisfaction. These results indicate that while violence decreases life satisfaction, social support (family and friends) and cognitive resilience (positive problem orientation) mechanisms play a protective role against this negative effect. The analysis of the qualitative data resulted in six (6) themes and thirteen (13) sub-themes. These themes encompassed Syrian male refugees' pre-war lives, their exposure to violence and struggles during the conflict, their migration processes, post-violence social relationships, social problems encountered in Türkiye, coping strategies, and future concerns and plans. Within these themes, the study demonstrated that participants not only experienced severe forms of violence during the war, including detention, torture, and the loss of close relatives, but also that exposure to violence persisted during the migration journey, alongside their struggles with multiple challenges in the war context. Following migration to Türkiye, new challenges emerged, such as racism, discrimination, language barriers, unemployment, financial difficulties, and uncertainty regarding legal status; It was found that participants adopted various coping strategies in response to the problems they encountered. These conditions led to the fragmentation of social relationships, with many participants reporting that their ties with family and friends weakened or that they were unable to share their experiences. The findings indicate that the violence experienced by Syrian male refugees affects their well-being not only as a past traumatic event but also as a multidimensional process encompassing their current social and economic conditions. In this context, strengthening social support networks and enhancing problem-solving skills, in light of Ecological Systems Theory and the Resilience Approach, will play a critical role in improving refugees' overall psychosocial adjustment