You are seeing this message because your Web browser does not support basic Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing and what you can do to make your experience on this site better.


ABOUT ARCHIVES
Advanced Search

Welcome   | My Account | E-mail Alerts | Access Rights | Sign In


  Vol. 150 No. 8, August 1996 TABLE OF CONTENTS
  Archives
  •  Online Features
  ARTICLE
 This Article
 •Send to a friend
 • Save in My Folder
 •Save to citation manager
 •Permissions
 Citing Articles
 •Citing articles on HighWire
 •Contact me when this article is cited
 Related Content
 •Similar articles in this journal

The psychological and medical sequelae of war in Central American refugee mothers and children

C. J. Locke, K. Southwick, L. A. McCloskey and M. E. Fernandez-Esquer
Department of Pediatrics, Steele Memorial Children's Research Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the physical and mainly psychological sequelae of exposure to war in Central American children and their mothers who immigrated to the United States on average 4 years before the study began. DESIGN: Interview study. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-two immigrant Central American women caretakers and 1 of their children aged 5 to 13 years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Standardized and new measures were administered to assess children's physical and mental health symptoms and exposure to political violence. RESULTS: Eighteen of the 22 children had chronic health problems. Fifteen children and all of the adults had observed traumatic events, including bombings and homicides. Thirteen of the children showed mental health symptom profiles above established norms, although only 2 met the criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder according to their own reports. Many of the caretakers were unaware of their child's psychological distress. Four of the mothers exhibited posttraumatic stress disorder, and their symptoms predicted their child's mental health. CONCLUSIONS: Pediatricians are sometimes the first and only contacts these families have with health care providers. Caretakers' reports of children's mental health are often incomplete. It is therefore important for physicians to probe for "hidden" symptoms in refugee children. These family members may need referrals to social and psychological services, and pediatricians can open the gates to existing community networks of support. Because we found that maternal mental health influences the child's, the child's interests are well served when pediatricians also encourage the mother to contact services for herself if she confides that she is experiencing some of the severe psychological sequelae reported by the women in this study.

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Immigrants and Refugees: The Psychiatric Perspective
Kinzie
Transcultural Psychiatry 2006;43:577-591.
ABSTRACT  

Predisplacement and Postdisplacement Factors Associated With Mental Health of Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons: A Meta-analysis
Porter and Haslam
JAMA 2005;294:602-612.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Exposure to Political Violence and Psychological Well-being in Bosnian Adolescents: A Mixed Method Approach
Jones and Kafetsios
Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry 2005;10:157-176.
ABSTRACT  

Children of war: the real casualties of the Afghan conflict
Bhutta
BMJ 2002;324:349-352.
FULL TEXT  





HOME | CURRENT ISSUE | PAST ISSUES | TOPIC COLLECTIONS | SUBMIT | SUBSCRIBE | HELP
CONDITIONS OF USE | PRIVACY POLICY | CONTACT US | SITE MAP
 
© 1996 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.