Resilience of Syrian children and adolescents living in Turkey

Resilience is a multidimensional construct which helps individuals to be powerful and maintain their psychological well-being. The aim of this study was to investigate the resilience of 133 children aged 10-18 years in terms of perceived social support, peer relations, parent relations, depression, anxiety, stress, intrusion, avoidance, hyperarousal, emotional problems, PTSD, conduct problems, hyperactivity and prosocial behaviour. Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-42), The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM-12), Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and Family Peer Relationship Questionnaire (FPRQ) were administered to the participants. The sample in the study included 59 (44.4%) girls and 74 (55.6%) boys. As a result of the analysis, it was found that the resilience of the children and adolescents who were living in rural regions in Syria and who had an education while in Syria was found to be higher than those who lived in urban areas and didn't have an education. As a result of the correlation analyses, resilience were positively correlated with perceived social support from family, friends, significant other and total perceived support, togetherness with parent, peer relations and parent as a mediator; negatively correlated with depression, anxiety, stress, intrusion, avoidance, hyperarousal and emotional problems. It was found that there was no significant relationship between resilience and conduct problems, hyperactivity, peer problems, prosocial behaviour and nurture disclosure of parents. As a result of ordinary least square regression analyses, it was found that, perceived social support from family, peer relations, hyperactivity, depression, anxiety, stress and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder predicted resilience. The findings of the study were mostly consistent with the related literature. Determining the factors that can have a positive or negative impact on resilience of Syrian children and adolescents will no doubt be significant for developing prevention and intervention programs.