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To date, no literature connects psychoanalytic ideas on relational dynamics to an adolescent refugee population. Further, although psychoanalysis was founded by Sigmund Freud, himself to become a refugee, only a few articles link psychoanalytic ideas to refugee populations (Akhtar 1995; Alayarian 2007; Clark and Garner 2005; Volkan 2003). As Alayarian (2007) acknowledges, relationships are central to psychoanalysis, and many refugees have lost all their relational ties. Grounded in psychoanalytic thought, attachment theory provides a lens for viewing refugee relationships by conceptualizing the effects of relational loss and trauma. This exploratory study sought to answer the question, How do adolescent refugees' attachment styles influence their experiences of traumatic events?
In 2009, 60, 191 refugees were admitted to the United States (U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants 2010). Estimates suggest that children account for at least half that number (Wasem 2004). Many refugees enter this country bearing mental and physical problems resulting from war. Indeed, research maintains that nearly half of all young refugees experience trauma-related mental health problems (Ehntholt and Yule 2006). Yet certain protective factors may mitigate these potentially adverse effects. One such factor is security of attachment (Arnold 2006; Rousseau, Mekki-Berrada, and Moreau 2001; Rousseau, Drapeau, and Rahimi 2003).
Securely attached (“autonomous”) adults tend to use their important relationships when traumatized, sharing their upset with those close to them (Nelson 2009). By contrast, adults with an avoidant (“dismissive”) attachment classification tend to deny the impact of their trauma or the importance