The Relationship Between Trauma, Acculturation, and Mental Health Symptoms in a Somali Refugee Community

Abstract

The conflict in Somali has resulted in millions of refugees and internally displaced persons for more than three decades. More than 100,000 Somali refugees have been resettled in the United States, striking a need for additional research about mental health needs and pre-migration experiences that led to resettlement. The purpose of this study was to learn more about traumatic experiences incurred pre-migration for Somali refugees, the impact on the process of acculturation following resettlement, and the relationship between pre migration trauma, acculturation, and mental health. It was hypothesized that acculturation would mediate the relationship between pre-migration trauma and mental health symptoms. The results partially supported this hypothesis, dependent upon the dimension of acculturation included in the path analysis. Unexpected findings occurred with regard to unique relationships between the various acculturation dimensions in the model, traumatic experiences, mental health symptoms, and time in the United States. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.