Youth from refugee backgrounds have been found to experience high rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), even after years of resettlement. The present study sought to investigate how familial separations and coping styles act as correlates of PTSD symptoms in resettled refugee youth (N = 50). Participants (M<inf>age</inf> = 16.63; range: 12-21) completed self-report questionnaires assessing PTSD symptoms and their use of coping styles, and engaged in a semi-structured interview designed by the authors to investigate their resettlement and adaptational experiences in Australia. Youth who were separated from immediate family members demonstrated significantly more PTSD symptoms than their counterparts, and there was a relationship between avoidant coping and PTSD, although this diminished once the confound between scales was controlled for. This study found evidence for the integrity of the family unit as a correlate of PTSD in refugee youth, but no evidence of a relationship between coping style and family separations. © 2015 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

Refugees PTSD symptomatology family separations Adolescence

personal experience medical assessment investigative procedures refugee Australia physiology human Refugees Self Report coping behavior Adaptation, Psychological Young Adult Humans family psychology Adolescent male semi structured interview female adaptive behavior questionnaire clinical article Article adult posttraumatic stress disorder Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic correlational study Child