Iranian Refugees in Sweden

Abstract

Three-and-a-half years after arriving in Sweden, when they had received permanent residence and settled, 39 Iranian children and their parents took part in a study to investigate coping strategies. Both children and parents used a variety of coping modes, addressing different topics, such as previous traumatic experiences, loss of social network and acculturative adjustment. Examples of children's narratives are given to illustrate how they coped with adaptive challenges in exile. Parents generally described problem-focused coping, such as moving to better living areas, while children mostly described emotion-focused coping, such as positive thinking and daydreaming. Parents deliberately facilitated or discouraged different coping strategies in their children and were also greatly influenced by their children's success or failure in coping.