ABSTRACT

Involuntarily or planned – many refugees flee their home country alone, leave behind spouses and children but also siblings, parents and other family members they otherwise care for. Reunification in hosting communities is difficult, as governments limit institutional family reunifications and the individual journey of kin is dangerous and often illegal. Having family abroad is mentally distressing for refugees, as kin might not live in safety. Additionally, reuniting with family members can be a source of support in the new environment. Grounded in theories of mental distress and social support, this analysis investigates the association between family reunifications and refugee mental health in a random sample of refugees in Germany (N = 6610), the IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees 2016–2018. By means of panel fixed-effect regression analysis, we observe institutionally sponsored but also individual moves of other family members. The study finds that family reunification has a positive association with refugee mental health, though not at an equally increasing rate for each additional member of the family. Gender differences show in the size of association, yet significant heterogeneous associations between refugee men and women cannot be observed. Finally, the associations are larger when only observing reunifications with the nuclear family.

摘要

非自愿或有计划地——许多难民独自逃离祖国，留下配偶和孩子，还有兄弟姐妹、父母和其他他们照料的家庭成员。收容社区的团聚很困难，因为政府限制机构家庭团聚，而亲属的个人旅行是危险的，而且往往是非法的。在国外有家人对难民来说是精神上的痛苦，因为亲属可能生活不安全。此外，与家人团聚可以成为新环境中的支持来源。该分析以精神困扰和社会支持理论为基础，在德国的随机难民样本中调查了家庭团聚与难民心理健康之间的关联（N = 6610)，IAB-BAMF-SOEP 难民调查 2016-2018。通过面板固定效应回归分析，我们观察了机构赞助以及其他家庭成员的个人移动。研究发现，家庭团聚与难民的心理健康呈正相关，但家庭成员每增加一个成员，其增长率就不同。性别差异体现在关联的规模上，但无法观察到难民男女之间存在显着的异质关联。最后，当仅观察与核心家庭的团聚时，关联会更大。