Social Networks of West African Forced Migrants

西非被迫移民的社交网络

• 批准号: 8770700
• 负责人: Andrew Edward Rasmussen
• 金额: $ 36.95万
• 依托单位: FORDHAM UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-08-18 至 2018-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8770700
• 关键词: Accounting; Africa; African; Anxiety; Blood Pressure; Body mass index; Cardiovascular system; Characteristics; Communities; Conflict (Psychology); Country; Data; Ecology; Elements; Emotional; Equilibrium; Ethnic Origin; Event; Exhibits; Exposure to; Family; Funding; Health; Heart Rate; Immigrant; Immigration; Individual; Institution; Intervention; Intervention Studies; Left; Link; Measures; Mental Depression; Mental Health; Mental disorders; Native-Born; New York; New York City; Nomads; Outcome; Pathway Analysis; Pattern; Personal Satisfaction; Physiological; Population; Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders; Psyche structure; Public Health; Publishing; Recording of previous events; Refugees; Research; Research Personnel; Social Behavior; Social Network; Source; Stress; Symptoms; Trauma; Universities; Volunteer Organization; Vulnerable Populations; Work; biobehavior; community organizations; density; design; displaced person; help-seeking behavior; innovation; knowledge base; member; migration; physical conditioning; professor; programs; psychologic; psychological distress; public health relevance; social; social health determinants

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The purpose of this R15 proposal is to (1) introduce social network analysis (SNA) into the study of forced migrants, (2) compare forced migrants' networks to culturally comparable voluntary migrants' networks, and (3) measure structural effects of these networks on biobehavioral outcomes (psychological distress and cardiovascular measures). Although 30 years of research on forced migrant populations (refugees, asylum seekers) has established that they are characterized by high rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and trauma-related physical ailments and that these health problems are associated with high rates of exposure to trauma3, considerable variance in health outcomes remains unexplained. We propose that much of this unexplained variance is best accounted for by the social ecological damage that occurs during displacement5. Central to individuals' social ecologies are their social networks. Social networks have been linked to multiple health outcomes among native-born populations12, and are particularly important for help seeking among immigrant populations19-22. We propose that social networks are damaged during forced migration and that this damage has measureable effects on forced migrants' mental and physical well-being that goes beyond the effects of exposure to trauma alone. In order to appropriately describe forced migrants' networks within a meaningful context, we must compare their networks to networks of individuals who have also immigrated and have similar patterns of social behavior. We therefore propose to study the social networks of forced migrants by comparing them to networks of voluntary migrants within a single West African immigrant community - the Fulani. The Fulani ethnic community in New York City is characterized by substantial numbers of both forced and voluntary migrants, and hails from countries across West Africa, a region with a recent history of widespread political conflict and outmigration. Our preliminary studies with Fulani and other West African communities in New York has established that, like many new migrants, individuals and families within the Fulani community rely on social networks much more than on official public health sources when seeking help, and that forced migrants rely on a smaller number of institutions than voluntary migrants to support their families' needs. The research proposed here is foundational in that its purpose is to establish a base of knowledge upon which intervention research can be built.

描述（由申请人提供）：该R15提案的目的是（1）将社交网络分析（SNA）引入强制移民的研究，（2）将强迫移民的网络与具有文化上可比的志愿移民网络进行比较，（3）衡量这些网络对生物疾病的结构效应对生物疾病的效果（心理遇险）（心理学上）。尽管对强迫移民人群（难民，寻求庇护者）进行了30年的研究，但它们的特征是，创伤后应激障碍（PTSD），抑郁症和与创伤相关的身体疾病的率很高，并且这些健康问题与Treuma3暴露率很高有关，但对健康的较大差异，对健康的影响很大。我们建议，这种无法解释的差异的大部分是由流离失所期间的社会生态损害来解释的。个人社会生态的核心是他们的社交网络。社交网络与本地出生的人群之间的多种健康成果有关12，对于在移民人群中寻求帮助尤为重要19-22。我们建议社交网络在强迫移民期间受到损害，并且这种损害对强迫移民的心理和身体健康产生了可衡量的影响，这超出了仅暴露于创伤的影响。为了在有意义的环境中适当描述强迫移民的网络，我们必须将他们的网络与也移民并具有类似社会行为模式的个人网络进行比较。因此，我们建议通过将强迫移民与单一西非移民社区中的志愿移民网络进行比较来研究强迫移民的社交网络。纽约市的富拉尼族社区的特点是大量强迫移民和自愿移民，以及来自西非国家的冰雹，这是一个最近有广泛的政治冲突和移民历史的地区。我们在纽约的富拉尼和其他西非社区的初步研究确定，像富拉尼社区中许多新移民，个人和家庭一样，在寻求帮助时，远比官方公共卫生来依赖社交网络，而强迫移民依靠较少的机构远比志愿移民来支持家人的需求。此处提出的研究是基本的，其目的是建立可以在哪些知识基础上建立干预研究的基础。