Positive Experience, Psychological Functioning, Hope for Future Positively Trigger Good Mental Health Among Sub-Saharan Refugees

Objectives. Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and Refugees victims of war and terror are reported to suffer of a wide range of psychological sequalae. Little is known about subjective well-being as a determinant of good mental health in this population. Our pilot study wants to investigate how domains of subjective well-being can trigger psychological functioning and good mental health in a population of Nigerien IDP and Nigerian refugee adolescents. We hypothesized that levels of subjective well-being act as protective factors against psychological distress of participants. Methods: 165 ( Male/female 43/57%) Sub-saharan IDPs and Refugees were administered self-reported measures able to detect psychological distress (PD, General Health Questionnaire, GHQ-12) and subjective well-being (SWB, Subjective Wellbeing Assessment Scale, SWBAS). SWBAS measures domains of SWB (positive experience, sociality, spirituality, education, economic satisfaction, negative functioning, self-efficacy, security and hope for the future). Three steps hierarchical regression analysis was carried-out with gender and age as controlling variables and psychological distress as target variable. Results: Individuals showed a low PD (M= 0.93; sd= 0.36). The regression model explained 30% of the variance (F = 4.87, p < .001) showing a robust statistical direct effect of SWB on PD (in particular dimensions of Positive Experience, Negative functioning and Hope for the future) and a relative effect of age (younger adolescents showed better WB and PD levels than older ones). Conclusions: Younger age and opportunities of experiencing positive life events seem to guarantee psychological functioning, increase hope for the future and positively trigger PD among IDPs and refugees .