Dataset Information

Traumatic Life Events and Association With Depression, Anxiety, and Somatization Symptoms in Female Refugees.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Different types of traumatic life events have varying impacts on symptoms of depression, anxiety, and somatization. For women from areas of the world experiencing war and humanitarian crises, who have experienced cumulative trauma exposure during war and forced migration, it is not known whether cumulative trauma or particular events have the greatest impact on symptoms.

Objective

To examine which traumatic life events are associated with depression, anxiety, and somatization symptoms, compared with the cumulative amount, in a sample of female refugees.

Design, setting, and participants

For this cross-sectional study, data were collected in 2016 as a part of The Study on Female Refugees. The current analysis was conducted in 2022 to 2023. This multicenter study covered 5 provinces in Germany. Participants were recruited at reception centers for refugees. Women volunteered to participate and to be interviewed after information seminars at the different centers.

Exposure

Traumatic life events experienced by refugees from areas of the world experiencing war and humanitarian crises.

Main outcomes and measures

Demographic variables (age, country of origin, religion, education, relationship status, and children), traumatic and adverse life events, and self-reported depression, anxiety, and somatization symptoms were measured. Random forest regressions simultaneously examined the importance of these variables on symptom scores. Follow-up exploratory mediation models tested potential associative pathways between the identified variables of importance.

Results

For the final sample of 620 refugee women (mean [SD] age, 32.34 [10.35] years), family violence was most associated with depression (mean [SD] variable of importance [VIM], 2.93 [0.09]), anxiety (mean [SD] VIM, 4.15 [0.11]), and somatization (mean [SD] VIM, 3.99 [0.15]), even though it was less common than other traumatic experiences, including war, accidents, hunger, or lack of housing. Other factors, such as childhood sexual abuse, injury, near-death experiences, and lack of access to health care, were also important. Follow-up analyses showed partial mediation effects between these factors in their association with symptoms, supporting the unique importance of family violence in understanding mental health.

Conclusions and relevance

The findings of this cross-sectional study of refugee women who experienced multiple severe traumas related to war in their home countries and danger encountered during their migration suggest that family violence was key to their current mental health problems. Culturally sensitive assessment and treatment need to place special emphasis on these family dynamics.

SUBMITTER: Moran JK

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10359962 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Traumatic Life Events and Association With Depression, Anxiety, and Somatization Symptoms in Female Refugees.

Moran James Kenneth JK Jesuthasan Jenny J Schalinski Inga I Kurmeyer Christine C Oertelt-Prigione Sabine S Abels Ingar I Stangier Ulrich U Starck Annabelle A Gutermann Jana J Zier Ulrike U Wollny Anja A Richter Knejinja K Krüger Antje A Schouler-Ocak Meryam M

JAMA network open 20230703 7

<h4>Importance</h4>Different types of traumatic life events have varying impacts on symptoms of depression, anxiety, and somatization. For women from areas of the world experiencing war and humanitarian crises, who have experienced cumulative trauma exposure during war and forced migration, it is not known whether cumulative trauma or particular events have the greatest impact on symptoms.<h4>Objective</h4>To examine which traumatic life events are associated with depression, anxiety, and somati ...[more]

PMID: 37471088

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Dataset Information

Traumatic Life Events and Association With Depression, Anxiety, and Somatization Symptoms in Female Refugees.

Importance

Objective

Design, setting, and participants

Exposure

Main outcomes and measures

Results

Conclusions and relevance

Publications

Traumatic Life Events and Association With Depression, Anxiety, and Somatization Symptoms in Female Refugees.

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