The effects of war and displacement on Syrian refugee children: risk and resilience

Millions of children across the world are affected by war and displacement. In addition to having experienced traumatic war-related events, many refugee children end up living in adverse conditions with little access to basic resources. It is well established that children exposed to war and displacement are at increased risk for the development of mental health problems, including post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, and behavioural problems. In this paper the Biological Pathways of Risk and Resilience in Syrian Refugee Children study (BIOPATH) is introduced, which was conducted over the last 10 years in order to investigate the complex interplay between psychosocial and biological factors in the development of risk and resilience among a large sample of vulnerable Syrian refugee children (N = 1,600) living in informal refugee settlements in Lebanon. Key findings from the BIOPATH study are summarized and reported, including the prevalence and predictors of mental health problems, predictors of risk and resilience, the development of resilience over time, the relationship between war exposure, hair cortisol levels and epigenetic factors (i.e. DNA methylation), as well as the role of the trait of environmental sensitivity for refugee children’s mental health.