This short report assesses the predictors of subjective health and happiness among a cohort of refugee youth over their first eight years in Australia. Five waves of data collection were conducted ...between 2004 (n = 120) and 2012–13 (n = 51) using mixed methods. Previous schooling, self-esteem, moving house in the previous year, a supportive social environment, stronger ethnic identity and perceived discrimination were significant predictors of wellbeing after adjusting for demographic and pre-migration factors. When compared with a previous analysis of this cohort over their first three years of settlement, experiences of social exclusion still have a significant impact on wellbeing eight years after arriving in Australia. This study contributes to mounting evidence in support of policies that discourage discrimination and promote social inclusion and cultural diversity and which underpin the wellbeing of resettled refugee youth.
•We assess predictors of refugee youth wellbeing over first eight years in Australia.•Impact of discrimination on refugee youth wellbeing persists over time.•Anti-discrimination policies should be part of refugee settlement programs.
For young people with refugee backgrounds, establishing a sense of belonging to their family and community, and to their country of resettlement is essential for wellbeing. This paper describes the ...psychosocial factors associated with subjective health and wellbeing outcomes among a cohort of 97 refugee youth (aged 11–19) during their first three years in Melbourne, Australia. The findings reported here are drawn from the Good Starts Study, a longitudinal investigation of settlement and wellbeing among refugee youth conducted between 2004 and 2008. The overall aim of Good Starts was to identify the psychosocial factors that assist youth with refugee backgrounds in making a good start in their new country. A particular focus was on key transitions: from pre-arrival to Australia, from the language school to mainstream school, and from mainstream school to higher education or to the workforce. Good Starts used a mix of both method and theory from anthropology and social epidemiology. Using standardized measures of wellbeing and generalised estimating equations to model the predictors of wellbeing over time, this paper reports that key factors strongly associated with wellbeing outcomes are those that can be described as indicators of belonging – the most important being subjective social status in the broader Australian community, perceived discrimination and bullying. We argue that settlement specific policies and programs can ultimately be effective if embedded within a broader socially inclusive society – one that offers real opportunities for youth with refugee backgrounds to flourish.
This paper explores the relationship between place-making, well-being and settlement among recently arrived youth with refugee backgrounds in Melbourne, Australia. Drawing on qualitative data ...including photo-novellas and neighborhood drawings, we describe the ways youth negotiate connections to place in early resettlement. Within the context of broader research on health and place, we describe how recently arrived youth actively seek out places with qualities associated with restoration and recovery and through these engagements, work to create therapeutic landscapes on arrival. The findings have implications for understanding the contribution of place-making to well-being in the settlement process.
What does it mean to become ‘at home’ in a settlement context while at the same time remaining connected to global networks? And what does this tell us about how information and communication ...technologies (ICTs) are transforming the experiences and opportunities of young people in a settlement context? These are some of the key questions underpinning Home Lands, a digital media project that explored the proposition that, if resettled refugee young people are able to maintain their connections to family and friends around the world, then this might enhance their sense of being at home in Melbourne. Analysing films and photographs produced during the programme by Karen Burmese youth, we describe three articulations of belonging that we have called settlement ‘escapes’. We demonstrate how ICTs can open up new possibilities for becoming at home in a new country and as a citizen of a more global, deterritorialized world. Our research demonstrates that settlement in a networked world is fundamentally tied to the resources and opportunities afforded to youth in making a life in their new country both on-line and off-line.
Transport is a main concern for people living in rural and remote communities around the world, where the absence of affordable and reliable transport often prevents access to education, health ...services and employment opportunities. In Sarawak, a state of Malaysia on the island of Borneo, many rural villages experience acute transport poverty. For their basic transport needs, people here rely on informal transport systems based on local social and cultural networks, which provide essential mobility.
We apply Polanyi's concept of social embeddedness to explore mobility in this region, people's efforts to develop regional models of entrepreneurship but also the relative marginalisation of remote communities in terms of development and infrastructure provision and the resulting friction between local people, the companies involved in regional resource extraction activities and local government. Based on data collected between 2015 and 2017, we frame informal transport in this region as a form of Indigenous entrepreneurship that can help local communities achieve wider social and economic inclusion. Our research points to a more social type of entrepreneurship and economic practice, in which social relationships and community responsibilities play an important role. Our qualitative approach, including ethnographic methods such as semi-structured interviews and participant observation, underpins the groundedness of our data in the every-day experiences of the people who took part in the research.
•The paper investigates the role of informal transport in alleviating transport poverty.•Informal transport is framed as a form of socially embedded Indigenous entrepreneurship.•Social embeddedness of transport supports mobility and encourages grassroots development.•Persisting structural problems limit the effectiveness of grassroots transport strategies.
In recent decades, the meaning and value of formal state citizenship has shifted dramatically. In the same period, scholarship on citizenship has drawn attention to the proliferation of alternative ...forms of sub-, supra- and transnational citizenship, at times obscuring the ongoing importance of formal state citizenship. For refugees, however, formal state citizenship remains a critical and widely shared goal. Drawing on interviews with 51 young people from refugee backgrounds in Melbourne, Australia, this article explores the intersecting themes of mobility and security that were identified by participants as the most important benefits of acquiring formal state citizenship in the country of resettlement. In contrast to the insecurity of forced migration, formal state citizenship provides a privileged mobility that enables refugee-background youth to maintain and create transnational identities and attachments and to be protected while doing so, while also granting a secure status within the nation state and insurance against further displacement in an uncertain future. In offering these forms of mobility and security, formal state citizenship contributes to a sense of ontological security among refugee-background youth, providing an important foundation for building national and transnational futures.
Being able to attend school and achieve an education is one of the most desired opportunities among resettled refugee young people. However, turning educational aspirations into reality is not ...straightforward. There is a large body of research documenting the barriers associated with educational achievement among refugees who resettle as teenagers, both in Australia and internationally. No studies, however, have identified the factors that predict completion of secondary school among resettled refugee youth over time. This paper reports the predictors of completion of secondary school among a cohort of 47 refugee youth resettled in Melbourne, Australia. Eight to 9 years after resettlement, 29 (62 %) had completed secondary school and 18 (38 %) had left school prior to completing year 12. Age on arrival and experiences of discrimination in Australia were significant predictors of secondary school completion. Older refugee youth (on arrival) and those who reported experiences of discrimination over the first 8 to 9 years in Australia were significantly less likely to complete secondary school. This longitudinal study confirms that, as a group, refugee youth are particularly at risk of not completing secondary school education, which can have an impact on their wellbeing and long-term socio-economic standing in their settlement country. Our study provides further evidence of the negative impact of discrimination on the educational outcomes of disadvantaged young people.
An increasing number of migrants are living in a state of indefinite 'transit'. In this paper, we report on interviews conducted in 2009 with 59 refugees and asylum seekers in Indonesia and describe ...how these individuals make a life despite their circumstances. While all participants were deeply affected by their position of uncertainty and insecurity, most sought to transcend these conditions and pursue significant life projects such as getting married, having children, becoming part of the local community, and working towards a better future. The current conceptualisation of transit as life in limbo does not wholly account for such permanent, life-changing experiences. We analyse the reasons why the use of the term 'transit' persists in international policy settings despite its incongruities, arguing that its ongoing political valence overrides its conceptual flaws.
Research involving resettled refugees raises methodological and ethical complexities. These complexities typically emerge within cross-sectional research that focuses on refugee experiences at a ...specific point in time. Given the long-term and dynamic nature of refugee settlement, longitudinal research is valuable, yet it raises distinct complexities within the research process. This article focuses on the methodological and ethical insights that emerged in a longitudinal study of settlement and wellbeing with a cohort of young people from refugee backgrounds in Australia. It considers: engagement and retention of a cohort over time; the need to adapt research tools to changing settlement contexts and life stages; participants’ experiences of long-term involvement in the study; and the challenge of timely translation of findings into evidence for policy and practice. The article contributes to a growing understanding of the practical, ethical and epistemological challenges and opportunities presented by longitudinal research, in this case, with resettled refugee background youth.
Located at the intersection of two vulnerable groups in the contemporary labour market, young people who migrate as refugees during adolescence face a unique constellation of opportunities and ...challenges that shape their employment trajectories. Yet, the tendency for research to focus on the early years of refugee settlement means that we have an inadequate understanding of the factors that mediate their employment decisions, experiences and outcomes. Based on interviews with 51 young people, this article explores how aspirations, responsibilities, family, education and networks are understood to influence the employment trajectories of adolescent refugee migrants. While this article draws attention to the complex and dynamic range of challenges and constraints that these young people negotiate in the pursuit of satisfying and sustainable employment, what also emerges is an optimistic and determined cohort who, even as they at times unsuccessfully prepare for and navigate the labour market, maintain high hopes for a better life.
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