https://doi.org/10.1007/s42844-021-00043-9 ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Role of Family in Refugee Adjustment: Experiences of Hmong, Somali, and Syrian Refugees in the USA
Zha Blong Xiong1 · Malina Her1 · Mari Kira2 · Andrea Jane Belgrade2 · Marie Aiudi Pattipati2 · Gaozer N. Xiong2 · Harrison Miller2 · Fiona Lee2
Accepted: 4 August 2021
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
Abstract
Compared to other immigrants, refugees often face unique challenges and higher levels of trauma due to their abrupt migra- tion. When resettling in a new country, refugees may continue to face trauma, including race-based trauma, which impacts their overall well-being and adjustment. Despite the vast literature on trauma and refugees, few studies have examined the positive role of family in refugee adjustment. Using a qualitative approach, the current study explores the role of family and support from family members in refugee adjustment. Forty participants across three refugee groups (Hmong, Syrian, and Somali) were interviewed in their language of choice. Using thematic analysis, we found four overarching themes: family social support, sense of belonging in the family, family centrality, and ethnic community as an extension of the family and a source of strength. Across the three groups, various forms of support from family members were cited as playing a prominent role in their adjustment. We found how important it was for participants to feel like they belong in their community; those who lacked biological family members sought support and connections in their wider ethnic community (e.g., neighbor- hoods). Our findings also suggest families playing a key role as many discussed how their lives and daily routines revolved around their families. We propose that future research should focus on examining the role of family as a resource, in refugee adjustment, and include perspectives from several family members.
Keywords Refugee trauma · Family strengths · Family support · Hmong · Somali · Syrians
Stories of forced displacement have always been a part of the human experience. In 2019, 79.5 million people were displaced from their home countries due to war, violence, and persecution worldwide (UNHCR, 2010). The USA is home to more than 3.1 million refugees since the passage of the Refugee Act of 1980 (Refugee Processing Center, n.d.a).
Unlike other immigrants, refugees tend to experience high levels of traumatic exposure prior to an abrupt migration, including war-related violence, torture, rape, and imprison- ment (Betancourt et al., 2015; Tinghög, 2017; Weaver &
Burns, 2001). For example, Weaver and Burns (2001) stud- ied refugees and asylum seekers and found that over 70% of their participants reported having been hurt, ill, or crippled
due to abuse and torture. Once they leave their countries, they continue to experience additional traumas, especially during the act of migration (Detzner et al., 2008; Im, 2020), the transit phase (Im, 2020; Pine & Drachman, 2005), and in the country of destination, including race-based trauma (Betancourt et al., 2015; Deng & Marlowe, 2013; Weine, 2011). Exposure to traumatic events has been found to relate to PTSD, depression, and anxiety symptoms in refugee pop- ulations (Peconga & Thøgersen, 2020).
Although the research on refugee trauma is well-docu- mented (Peconga & Thøgersen, 2020; Zheng et al., 2020), few studies focused on the role of the family in the refugee adjustment process, especially in Hmong, Somali, and Syr- ian refugee families. Most studies, when examining refugee families, tend to focus on family struggles during the adjust- ment process (Connor et al., 2016; McCleary, 2017; Rizkalla
& Segal, 2019; Xiong et al., 2005) instead of examining how families help refugees overcome their trauma and post- resettlement adjustment. Although most refugees come to the country of destination without everyone in the nuclear
* Zha Blong Xiong xiong008@umn.edu
1 Department of Family Social Science, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, USA
2 Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
/ Published online: 31 August 2021
family and with a smaller network of relatives (Lamba &
Krahn, 2003; Löbel, 2020; Rousseau et al., 2001), increasing evidence appears to suggest that family, particularly family relationships, family support, and children, play a critical role in refugees’ adjustment (Atari-Khan et al., 2021; Ear- nest et al., 2015; Hutchinson & Dorsett, 2012; Löbel, 2020;
Nsonwu et al., 2013). Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the following two research questions: How do Hmong, Somali, and Syrian refugees describe the role of the family during the adjustment process? Specifically, how do family members support each other during the adjustment process?
The Role of Family in Refugee Adjustment and Family Resilience
Most research on refugee families tends to focus on the neg- ative impact of migration on the family, especially on gender relations (Koshen, 2007), marital conflict and domestic vio- lence (Lee & Chang, 2012; Pan et al., 2006), parent–child conflicts, (Salami et al., 2017; Su et al., 2005; Xiong et al., 2005); and parenting challenges (El-Khani et al., 2016).
Few studies have examined the role of the family in helping refugees adjust and cope with life in the country of desti- nation (Atari-Khan et al., 2021; Detzner et al., 2009; Ellis et al., 2016; Löbel, 2020). Yet, family is the cornerstone of most refugees’ lives, and family is defined broader than the nuclear family to also include people in the same clan and extended family members (Boyle & Ali, 2009; Xiong et al., 2013). Given the importance of the family, research suggests that refugees tend to relocate to places where other family members reside or where there are other ethnic community members (Bohra-Mishra & Massey, 2011; Chaney et al., 2018; Hernández-Plaza et al., 2004; Pfeifer et al., 2012).
Members of the (extended) family such as cousins, aunts, and uncles provide refugee families with a sense of safety and belonging, and therefore, they are critical in the adjust- ment of refugees (Agneessens et al, 2006; Shor et al., 2013;
Tingvold et al., 2012; Whittaker et al., 2005).
Since refugees are less likely to seek mental health ser- vices in the country of destination (Fenta et al., 2006; Xiong et al., 2006), they tend to rely on informal support, mostly from family members (Chase & Sapkota, 2017; Hynie et al., 2011). For example, Löbel (2020) examined the relationship between kinship network and mental health in refugees in Germany and found that the presence of a spouse or partner, children, and extended family is positively associated with refugees’ mental health.
The role of the family during the adjustment process fits naturally to the family resilience theory (Walsh, 2002).
Resilience refers to “the ability to … show positive adapta- tion in spite of significant life adversities and the ability to
adapt to difficult and challenging life experiences” (Sossou et al., 2008, p. 367). The concept of family resilience was developed to draw attention to the role of family resources and strengths at the face of adversarial life experiences, in addition to individual characteristics such as optimism, adaptability, perseverance, control, and hardiness (Gori et al., 2021; Toth, 2003; Zheng et al., 2020). Family resil- ience highlights how a crisis or ongoing adversity, such as acculturative stress, not only affects individual fam- ily members but also impacts the whole family as a unit.
Therefore, strengthening specific family processes can play an important role in the adjustment and adaptation process. As such, our interest in this paper was to exam- ine the relational processes within the family that sup- port its members’ coping, adaptation, and growth (Walsh, 2020). More specifically, we address family resilience, or
“the ways in which the dynamics within a family, and the networks and communities around a family, may help or hinder all individuals within that unit to cope with major difficulties and stress” (Power et al., 2016, p. 67; see also Walsh, 1996, 2003).
Studies on various refugee populations highlight the importance of family resilience. For example, Nsonwu et al.
(2013) investigated refugees from 12 countries and found that family cohesion was reported as a strength during the adjustment period, allowing family members to pool their resources to satisfy material needs, as well to support one another emotionally. Goodman et al.’s (2017) study among immigrants from Mexican, Central American, and South American and refugee women from the Middle East and Africa found that women’s ability to overcome trauma was related to family support, especially support from male partners. Women in this study talked about sharing their thoughts with their partners, which helped them to connect to other resources. Ellis et al. (2016) found Somali parents in the USA to report close relationships with and a sense of belonging to their family, and many participants (68%) reported that they have someone who they trust when they need assistance. Similarly, Detzner et al.’s (2009) study with Hmong and Somali refugees in the USA found that Hmong identified love, communication, role modeling, and religion as family strengths to overcome family difficulties, while Somali identified respect, communication, unity, and religion. McCleary’s (2017) study with 36 Karen refugee adults revealed that families who “stick together” tend to cope well with family crises as a result of the adjustment process. Participants in this study also talked about mutual respect, listening, and understanding each other, and spend- ing time together as important mechanisms to cope with post-resettlement crises. Moreover, Atari-Khan et al. (2021) examined Syrian refugees in the USA and found that “con- nection with their immediate family in the United States and abroad provided support and even joy, and that they felt a
conviction to protect and provide for their children and loved ones, which helped them pass through difficulties” (p. 252).
Given the importance of family resilience during the adjustment process and the limited research on family resilience among Hmong, Somali, and Syrian refugees, the current study examines the role of the family during the adjustment process. Understanding how families strengthen adjustment can help to inform future research and interven- tions designed to improve the life of refugees in the USA.
Backgrounds of Hmong, Syrian, and Somali in the USA
Hmong Refugee Context
Hmong refugees in the USA originate from Laos, a small country (91,429 square miles with 7.2 million people), about the size of Minnesota (86,939 square miles with 5.6 mil- lion people). Geographically, Laos is surrounded by China, Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia. During the Vietnam (or the Indochinese) War, the USA recruited the Hmong to fight in a secret war against the North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao forces (Hamilton-Merritt, 1993). When the war ended in 1975, many Hmong became the new govern- ment’s target for the “reeducation” and imprisonment cam- paign (Tatman, 2004). Thousands of Hmong were forced to flee their homes to various refugee camps in Thailand and eventually resettled to the USA with limited resources (Ngo
& Lee, 2007). As such, Hmong are among the poorest Asian American groups (Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans, 2012; Takei & Sakamoto, 2011). One in three Hmong live in poverty (Asian American Center for Advancing Justice, 2012), and the majority reside in poor neighborhoods across the country (Pfeifer et al., 2012). Today, there are 260,073 Hmong residing in the USA; California (91,224), Minnesota (66,181), and Wisconsin (49,240) have the largest Hmong population in the country.
Family is central to Hmong daily activities. As part of the Asian American community, Hmong is a collectivist cul- ture, and families are organized based on a patrilineal clan system (Lee, 1996) where individuals sharing the same last name belong to the same clan. As such, families tend to be large, extending beyond the traditional nuclear family and including extended family members (Xiong et al., 2013). For example, it is not uncommon to find Hmong resettling in a particular state where families live near each other or in mul- tigenerational households (Ngo & Lee, 2007; Pfeifer et al., 2012). Given the thick family networks, families tend to get together during the weekends, interact regularly, and rely on one another for support to cope with adjustment problems (Im, 2020; Livo and Cha, 1991).
Syrian Refugee Context
Syria is a small country, about the geographical size of Washington State, located between Turkey and Iraq in the Middle East. In 2011, the military clashed with anti-gov- ernment protestors in a “brutal military crackdown” (Sirin
& Rogers-Sirin, 2015, p. 2) initiating a civil war that ulti- mately evolved into a larger conflict between the Sunni Mus- lim majority versus the Shiite minority that holds much of the political power in the country (Carlier, 2016). Due to the conflict, 250,000 Syrians died in their homeland (Car- lier, 2016), and 12 million Syrians are currently displaced.
Although about 4 million Syrians are displaced outside of Syria due to the constant violence (Hassan et al., 2016), the USA only received 33,000 of these recent refugees (Bose, 2020). In addition to the recent Syrian refugees, there were 60,000 Syrian immigrants already resettled in the USA (Zong, 2015). In Michigan, for example, over 11,000 people reported having Syrian ancestry, refugees and non-refugees alike (Tanner, 2017). Syrian refugees and/or immigrants typically settled in the Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Detroit metropolitan areas, with these four areas making up almost half of the Syrian population in the USA (Zong, 2015).
As refugees who came to the USA during a period of heightened anti-Muslim sentiment (Ellis et al., 2016;
Gowayed, 2020), Syrian refugees are also faced with addi- tional stressors that are associated with racism and discrim- ination (Arafa, 2018; O’Connell, 2006) and poverty. For example, two-thirds of Syrian-born children who arrived in the USA after 2010 live in poverty (Zong, 2015). Given US public policy that demands refugees are self-sufficient within three months of arrival, Syrian refugees who enter the workforce (more often men) tend to work menial jobs and therefore do not have the opportunity to attend English classes that would improve their ability to earn higher wages (Gowayed, 2020). That pressure to immediately begin full- time, low-skilled work, combined with a lack of universal childcare, keeps Syrian refugees from gaining the skills they need to earn family-sustaining wages (Gowayed, 2020).
Given the history of trauma and post-resettlement stress- ors, a recent systematic literature review shows high rates of symptoms for post-traumatic stress (average = 43.0%), depression (40.9%), and anxiety (26.6%) among Syrian refugees (Peconga and Thøgersen, 2020).
Like Hmong, family is the center of life for Syrians, and their sense of family extends beyond the nuclear family to include other kin (Chandler et al., 2020), while friends and coworkers may be important to one’s life, one’s primary loyalty and dependence lies with one’s extended families (Collelo, 1987). However, due to migration and family separation (McNatt et al., 2018), many Syrian refugee families in the USA may experience less support from
family members and receive more support from other Syr- ians in the community, compared to Hmong and Somali refugees.
Somali Refugee Context
Somalia is a country about the size of Texas (about 246,201 square miles), located on the coast of the Arabian Sea in Eastern Africa. Neighboring countries are Kenya, Ethiopia, and Djibouti. Somalia’s population in 2016 was about 10.8 million, with 1.5 million displaced within the country, and more than 1 million refugees living outside of the country as of July 2012 (Lewis & Patel, 2012; United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 2010). Following 80 years of British and Italian colonization, Somalia gained its inde- pendence in 1960. After a coup in 1969, Somalia was under the dictatorship of Siad Barre. In 1977, Somalia went to war with Ethiopia (the Ogaden War) attempting to gain Somali occupied land but was defeated in 1978. This defeat increased open opposition and dissension against the gov- ernment. Following clashes between Somali clans beginning in 1990, Siad Barre was forced out of office in 1991 in an event that sparked a violent civil war between the govern- ment and opposition movements. Multiple guerilla groups, mostly separated by clan, began to form and lead opposi- tional attacks against the government and each other, each vying for power and control of Somalia. Civilians were often detained and executed by warring clans as well as by the government-led Red Berets as retaliatory actions in what was referred to as “clan cleansing as a tactic to capture the state” (Kapteijns, 2013). As a result of the conflict, an esti- mated 50,000 to 100,000 civilians were killed between 1988 and 1993, and about 500,000 civilians died from famine due to the destruction caused by the war (International Com- mittee of the Red Cross, n.d.). Between 1983 and 2007, the USA admitted over 82,000 Somali refugees (Office of Refugee Resettlement, 2007), and between 2014 and 2017, the USA admitted 33,000 Somali refugees. Since then, the USA has admitted very few refugees from Somalia (Refugee Processing Center, n.d.b).
Family is central to Somali life. Like Hmong and Syrians, family is defined broadly to include the extended family.
As such, Somali families are large and based on a patri- lineal, clan-based system. As a part of this system, Somali families are structured hierarchically where the father is the provider and the mother is the homemaker (Koshen, 2007).
Children are expected to be obedient to parents, and par- ents are expected to protect and provide for the children.
Extended families are an important part of the family. They are expected to support one another and raise each other’s children in the community (Betancourt et al., 2015; Koshen, 2007).
Methods
Bicultural interviewers were recruited to conduct semi- structured interviews with three resettled refugee groups in the Midwestern USA. Specifically, Hmong, Somali, and Syrian communities were chosen for the study because they are few of the largest refugee populations in the upper-Midwestern states who came to the USA in differ- ent eras. Our guiding principle was to include refugees from different groups to form a richer understanding of refugee experiences, not limited to those of one group only. In addition to contributing to research on family resilience in these specific refugee communities, studying three resettled refugee communities with key differences in religion, age, culture, decade of resettlement, and age of resettlement adds to the richness of the data, demon- strating nuances in the stories of refugee adaptation in the USA. Additionally, identifying shared experiences across the group differences allows us to distinguish life experi- ences and behavior patterns unique to a refugee’s life.
Participants
Participants in this study included fourteen Somali (8 men and 6 women), fifteen Hmong (8 men and 7 women), and eleven Syrian refugees (7 women and 4 men). Somali participants were the youngest (mean age = 23.71, SD = 3.29 years old, ranging from 19 to 29 years old), compared to Hmong (mean age = 55.93, SD = 6.33 years old, ranging from 40 to 64 years old), and Syrian partici- pants (mean age = 33.27, SD = 10.57 years old, ranging from 18 to 54 years old) (see Table 1). Hmong participants typically lived in the USA the longest, with most arriving in the 1980s, while Somali participants came to the USA in the early 2000s and Syrian participants were the most recent arrivals (around 2015). Somali participants were, on average, 11 years old when arriving in the USA, while the Hmong participants were, on average, 18 years old and Syrian participants about 30 years old on arrival. The Somali participants also demonstrated the highest educa- tion compared to Hmong and Syrian (Table 2).
The selection of Hmong, Somali, and Syrian refugees therefore gave us an opportunity to include refugee experi- ences from refugees having a long resettlement history in their 40 s to 60 s (Hmong), a group with relatively recent resettlement most in their 30 s and 40 s (Syrian), and a group of young adults with a mid-length resettlement his- tory (Somali). Including all these different age groups in different phases of resettlement allowed us to hear from refugees who considered the refugee experience as senior members of their community (Hmong), as parents (Hmong
and Syrian), and as young adults balancing their lives between their heritage culture and assimilation pressures to the American mainstream culture (Somali). Further, these three groups differ based on other factors such as culture, race, and religion, with the Somali and Syrian participants largely ascribing to Islam while the Hmong participants mostly practiced Animism and ancestor wor- ship. Each of these dimensions of difference allowed us to understand the intersecting experiences of refugees and their other important social identities and experiences.
Procedures
We hired a bilingual and bicultural interviewer for each targeted refugee group (Hmong, Somali, and Syrian refu- gee communities); they were trained to recruit participants, obtain informed consent, and conduct the interviews (in the participants’ language of choice). Participants were recruited using a convenience sampling approach from two upper- Midwestern states between May and October of 2018. To be eligible for the study, participants had to be adults at the time of the study, arrived in the USA as a refugee after age 13 (though some exceptions were made at the discretion of the interviewers), and were connected to an organization (i.e., volunteering, work, etc.). Participants were compen- sated $25.
All interviewers were instructed to conduct interviews in a way that they considered culturally appropriate, and the participants were given the chance to choose the language of the interview. Only the Somali participants chose to be interviewed in English (with few exceptions). Hmong and Syrian participants chose to be interviewed in Hmong and Arabic, respectively. Interviews were semi-structured with a general format where the interviewer asked for the partici- pant’s background information, description of a good life, obstacles to and facilitators of well-being, and a few closing questions. The following questions were especially relevant to the current analysis: “Can you tell me about important people in your life; your family, friends, and colleagues?;”
“You described what a good life means to you. What helps
you to experience such a good life?;” and “What are some of the sources of support you received that were helpful and what role did they play in your life?”.
All interviews were recorded, transcribed, and trans- lated. When possible, transcriptions and translations were completed by the interviewers to maintain continuity and accuracy. Due to the original focus of the study (i.e., refu- gee well-being), we did not ask participants to disclose their experiences of trauma or any other sensitive information.
All data were de-identified before the analysis. These fac- tors resulted in the study determined to be exempt from the ongoing Institutional Review Board oversight.
Data Analysis
We used the thematic analysis procedure outlined by Braun and Clarke (2006) to guide our analysis. Two to three coders or sub-teams were assigned the main responsibility for ana- lyzing the data from one refugee group. Each sub-team first coded three interview transcripts from their respective refu- gee group to develop initial codes and meaning units based on an interpretive open coding procedure (Braun & Clarke, 2006; Ponterotto, 2005). Each sub-team also developed a codebook with code definitions and selected quotations illus- trating the codes. Codebooks from each sub-team were then shared with the entire research team to create a unified code- book. Each sub-team then checked three codes from the uni- fied codebook against the original transcripts to ensure that the codes captured what participants from each participant group were sharing in their stories. Definitions and mean- ings for the codes in the codebook were further developed during this process, as needed. Note that some of the code names were borrowed from the relevant literature, while oth- ers were developed based on the data transcripts. The next step was to combine codes into themes, and the Hmong sub- team (the first, second, and sixth authors) prepared the first suggestion for the themes by grouping codes with a shared meaning into a theme (Braun & Clarke, 2006) prior to shar- ing it for the whole team to review. Since families offered and received different kinds of support, depending on the
Table 1 Participants’
characteristics
Note: First generation refers to refugees who arrived in the USA at age 17 years old or older; 1.5 generation refers to those who arrived between 7 and 16 years old; and second generation refers to those who arrived younger than 7 years old or were born in the USA (Van Ours & Veenman, 2003)
Age Sex Generation satus
M SD Male (n) Female (n) First gen-
eration (n) 1.5 genera-
tion (n) Second generation (n) Ethnicity
Hmong (n = 15) 55.93 6.33 8 7 9 5 1
Syrian (n = 11) 33.27 10.57 4 7 11 0 0
Somali (n = 14) 23.71 3.29 8 6 0 13 1
Table 2 Demographics of study participants (N = 40) Pseudonym Age Arrival age Sex Self-defined
cultural back- ground
Place of birth Year arrived Current living
place Interview
language Professional affiliation
Safiya 21 14 Woman Somali Ethiopia 2011 Twin Cities English Community
service officer at Police Department in Minnesota
Ubah 28 7 Woman Somali Somalia 1997 Twin Cities English Muslim Student
Program Associate at a University
Zamazam 28 15 Woman Somali Somalia 2005 Twin Cities English Fourth-grade
teacher
Yusaf 26 9 Man Somali Somalia 2001 Twin Cities English Information
technology
Farah 24 12 Man Somali Somalia 2006 Twin Cities English Working student
Haji 24 12 Man Somali Somalia 2006 Twin Cities English Working stu-
dent/volunteer at a mosque
Amina 29 10 Woman Somali Somalia 1999 Twin Cities English Insurance com-
pany
Salman 20 15 Man Somali Somalia 2013 Twin Cities English Student/worker
at a hospital Fairview
Ali 23 8 Man Somali Somalia 2003 Twin Cities English Working student
Shamsa 19 11 Woman Somali Somalia 2010 Twin Cities English Student/public
safety/mentor kids/campus tours
Yasir 23 13 Man Somali Somalia 2008 Twin Cities English Student/worker
at nonprofit organization
Kaltun 26 12 Woman Somali Somalia 2004 Twin Cities Somali Nurse
Mahdi 20 6 Male Somali Somalia 2014 Twin Cities Somali Student
Ismail 21 16 Man Somali Somalia 2013 Twin Cities Somali Student
Chong Pao
Thao 51 12 Man Hmong Laos 1980 Twin Cities Hmong Worker/volun-
teer
Vam Meej 54 40 Man Hmong Laos 2004 Twin Cities Hmong Technician in a
factory/volun- teer
Neeb 53 18 Man Hmong Laos 1983 Twin Cities Hmong Own a busi-
ness to sell insurance/vol- unteer as the president of the Hmong 18 clan council
Yeej 55 24 Man Hmong Laos 1987 Twin Cities Hmong Service direc-
tor in a local charitable nonprofit that serves disadvantaged groups
Table 2 (continued)
Pseudonym Age Arrival age Sex Self-defined cultural back- ground
Place of birth Year arrived Current living
place Interview
language Professional affiliation
Paaj 45 6 Woman Hmong Laos 1979 Twin Cities Hmong Works in a
school and summer school program
Kaj Siab 56 19 Woman Hmong Laos 1981 Twin Cities Hmong Customer
service
Laj 60 20 Man Hmong Laos 1978 Twin Cities Hmong Director of
a Hmong organization/
clan repre- sentative
Ntsa Lab 57 20 Woman Hmong Laos 1981 Twin Cities Hmong Custodian
Nu Long 59 21 Man Hmong Laos 1980 Twin Cities Hmong Custodian
Kiab 44 12 Woman Hmong Laos 1986 Twin Cities Hmong Teacher
Xia 64 22 Woman Hmong Laos 1976 Twin Cities Hmong Works for the
Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program/
volunteers at her cousin’s business
Thaiv 53 22 Man Hmong Laos 1987 Twin Cities Hmong Patrol officer in
police depart- ment
Sua 40 10 Woman Hmong Laos 1988 Twin Cities Hmong Doctoral pro-
gram student/
volunteers in Hmong nonprofit organizations
Der 52 14 Woman Hmong Laos 1980 Twin Cities Hmong Work to prepare
paperwork for vendors
Cai 50 14 Man Hmong Laos 1982 Twin Cities Hmong Housing author-
ity
Nader 20 18 Man Syrian Syria 2016 SE Michigan Arabic Student/Cus-
todian at a school
Saleem 46 44 Man Syrian Syria 2016 SE Michigan Arabic Laborer who
manages appointments in a company
Nuha 38 36 Woman Syrian Syria 2016 SE Michigan Arabic Cook in a res-
taurant
Rami 54 53 Man Syrian Syria 2017 SE Michigan Arabic Cook in a res-
taurant
Layla 20 18 Woman Syrian Syria 2016 SE Michigan Arabic Student/Chil-
dren day care
Zena 35 31 Woman Syrian Syria 2014 SE Michigan Arabic Cashier at a gas
station and a student
circumstances, family social support was coded by types of support without the sources of support due to the lack of data across the three refugee groups.
Results
Our analysis focused on how Hmong, Somali, and Syrian refugees discussed the role of the family during their adjust- ment process in the USA. Our analyses revealed four over- arching themes: family social support, sense of belonging in the family, family centrality, and ethnic community as a source of strength. We present the themes by starting with the most frequently mentioned (family social support) and addressing the other themes in descending order according to their mentioning frequency (sense of belonging in the family, family centrality, and ethnic community as a source of strength). To protect the anonymity of the participants, we identify them by their pseudonyms only (see Table 2).
Family Social Support
Family social support refers to the variety of ways for fam- ily members to help each other to overcome life adversities.
Family social support is reported here only by the types of support and not by the sources of support; the sources of support were not consistently distinguished by the mem- bers in the three refugee groups. We distinguished eleven types of family social support (acculturation, educational, emotional, financial, general, informational, instrumental, lack of support, language, moral, and spiritual), but only four specific types were mentioned frequently (at least by 25% of the participants or more): emotional (63%), financial (41%), instrumental (34%), and educational support (25%).
Due to space constraints, only these four types of support will be addressed.
First, emotional support refers to conversations where family members confided in each other, communicated problems, and/or showed empathy and affection towards each other. Of the participants who talked about emotional support having an important role in helping them deal with their trauma, hardships, and/or difficult lives (n = 20), 12 were Somali, followed by five Syrian, and three Hmong participants. However, when the narratives were examined closely, Hmong participants tended to mention specific fam- ily members when talking about emotional support (n = 5) compared to Somali and Syrian participants (less than n = 2).
This Hmong participant talked about the importance of emo- tional support from her mother and husband in building a better life:
[Mom] always said nice things to you to motivate you even though she doesn’t have a lot of money. Her words really supported me. She really pushed me to do better… And of course, the support of my family, my husband, and my mom really made me such an accom- plished person (Paaj, 45, female, Hmong).
Somali and Syrian participants tended to connect emo- tional support from family, in general, to coping with trauma and adversities:
Because in this country we’re constantly dealing with trauma. So, it’s good to have a family, a support system of people who care and who constantly check on you because a lot of times it’s easy because we tend to put a happy face on. But when somebody asks you how are you really doing? Like, how are you really doing?
Not, oh how are you? That happens in moments, but
Table 2 (continued)
Pseudonym Age Arrival age Sex Self-defined cultural back- ground
Place of birth Year arrived Current living
place Interview
language Professional affiliation
Yara 35 29 Woman Syrian Syria 2012 SE Michigan Arabic Assistant at
a barber (hairdresser), volunteer at school
Lujain 25 21 Woman Syrian Syria 2014 SE Michigan Arabic Student, works
at pizza restaurant and Walmart
Suha 30 27 Woman Syrian Syria 2015 SE Michigan Arabic Custodian in a
school
Nadia 26 22 Woman Syrian Syria 2014 SE Michigan Arabic Baker
Saif 37 35 Male Syrian Syria 2016 SE Michigan Arabic Custodian in
school
you want someone to be, like, genuinely to come up to you and be like how are you doing today?” (Shamsa, 19, Female, Somali)
Mental health means that your family is around, if you ever need something they are there next to you.
If something hurts you they will be there next to you to help. They will tell you that they are there to sup- port you psychologically if not financially (Nuha, 38, Female, Syrian).
Next, financial support was the second most frequently mentioned support subtheme. Participants mentioned a vari- ety of situations where they financially supported each other, including supporting adult children living with parents when in a transitional life phase (e.g., from college to work or dur- ing a divorce), helping to pay for the rent and other expenses for parents, assisting siblings to start a new business, and aiding family members who were left behind in the native country. As one Somali participant put it, “We are hoping…
my parents especially can stop working and be able to enjoy their lives… to just kick back and enjoy what their children have given to them” (Yasir, 23, Male, Somali). More par- ticipants from the Hmong (n = 6) and Somali (n = 5) groups discussed providing financial support in the family com- pared to Syrian participants (n = 2). The following quotes illustrated how participants talked about financial support across groups: “While I went to college, my wife worked to support my family and my mom helped to babysit my children at home” (Thaiv, 53, Male, Hmong). “I owed all of my successes to my husband; he has always stuck with me through thick and thin, supporting me through college and throughout my career” (Der, 52, Female, Hmong).
I struggled financially a little bit after college, um, so, I got to stay with [my] family rather than paying [for]
rent. Then, I got my own place. Anytime we’re in need, we’re very close…We all look after each other. (Yusaf, 26, Male, Somali)
The third most frequently mentioned form of support was instrumental support. Instrumental support included helping each other to perform a particular task such as assisting the family with cooking, cleaning, paying bills, running errands, driving other family members to different appointments, babysitting, and/or caring for older children. Five Hmong, three Somali, and three Syrian participants provided detailed information about instrumental support in the family, as illustrated by this quote: “I live at home so I have to take care of my family. They’re younger children in my family, so I have to be there and uh, you know, hold them accountable for things and just look after them (Yasir, 23, Male, Somali).
Lastly, eight participants talked about educational support. Educational support refers to any discussions involving the assistance of family members pertinent
to school-related issues such as working to support the spouse while s/he goes to college or supporting adult children while in college. Our analysis showed that this subtheme was frequently mentioned by Somali partici- pants (n = 7) compared to Hmong (n = 1) and Syrian par- ticipants (n = 0). Importantly, the value of education in making life better was frequently mentioned among each participant group, but here our focus lies specifically on family support for education, as illustrated by the follow- ing quotations:
It [education] changed me because it’s something I worked hard for four years. Something that I put, not only to myself, the work, not only because of me, but because of the support of my family. And, everyone that supported me. It changed, it changed me [and]
how I saw education (Safiya, 21, Female, Somali).
So the most important thing is that the children are studying. As long as everything is provided for them and that they’re studying and are in good and excellent health, it does not matter if I get a little tired. What is important is that my children are studying and have a future (Nader, 20, Male, Syrian).
Sense of Belonging in the Family
The second most frequently mentioned theme was the sense of belonging in the family, and it included three intercon- nected subthemes (family togetherness, family cohesion, and family connectedness). A sense of belonging in the family refers to the feeling of being a part of a family, an extended family (including adult siblings, aunts, uncles, nephews, cousins, in-laws, and other relatives), or an ethnic com- munity explicitly considered as an extension of the family.
Participants whose narratives fell into this theme wanted to live in close proximity with their (extended) family mem- bers, to stay connected to their family, and to strengthen their family cohesiveness or bonds. Across the three refugee groups, the participants were not only talking about achieved belongingness, but also values of family togetherness, cohe- sion, and connectedness, even when these experiences were challenged by physical distance. Here is an example from a female Somali participant:
Yes, my family did come first. A lot of sons-in-law, my uncles, just a lot of family here…We were actually one of the last families that came….[my family] came here 5 to 10 years...before us. A lot of families on my dad's side were already here. So it was easy, Alhumdulli- lah (or thank Allah or God). When I came home from school, I would see my aunts; it wasn’t a big change;
it was like Somalia, in ...fact ...the only difference was location (Shamsa, 19, Female, Somali).
The first subtheme is family togetherness. Family togetherness emerged as a consistent subtheme across the three refugee groups, and it encompasses the long- ing for and/or experience of physical proximity of one’s nuclear and extended families. Participants described fam- ily togetherness as being in the same geographical space, such as living in the same household or in the same locale, as illustrated by the following two quotations: “Thank God that I’m safe, doing well and in good health. That my par- ents are besides me, I have everything that I want to have”
(Zena, 35, Female, Syrian).
Um, we had to move just cuz we were still feeling really lonely, so we moved to Minnesota later that year in 2005 where my mom had a half sister who lived here and we had cousins and more friends and things like that and it just made life more enjoyable (Amina, 29, Female, Somali).
For these participants, living near each other geographi- cally allowed family members to connect with one another:
“Most of my children are adults now so they visit us regu- larly since we live very close to one another” (Thaiv, 53, Male, Hmong).
For some participants, especially participants from the Syrian group, being physically close to their families was not possible. Even apart geographically, participants emphasized the value of family togetherness to their expe- rience of a good life in resettlement:
So like here in America I don’t have anyone from [my] family that are close or related to us, like they’re all back there (in Syria). Sometimes I feel that had my relatives were also here next to me, then I would have somewhat of a better life (Layla, 20, Female, Syrian).
The second subtheme is family connectedness. Family connectedness refers to the different ways family mem- bers interact with one another, such as engaging in vari- ous activities together, visiting, calling, or chatting online.
Participants in all three refugee groups truly valued fam- ily connectedness and constantly made concerted efforts to strengthen their interactions; these interactions made participants happy. Most participants talked about getting together on a regular basis to maintain family relation- ships, as illustrated by this quote:
We see each other too much. For some, they have a family reunion every one or two years, but my sib- lings, we see each other at least 2 to 3 times a week.
During the summer my oldest brother really likes to fish so my brother and sister-in-law always barbeque.
Every Sunday or every time there’s been an outing there’s a barbeque where all of us see each other. So,
every week we see each other 2 or 3 times, some- times even more (Paaj, 45, Female, Hmong).
Many participants used technology to strengthen their family connectedness. They talked about using the telephone as a tool to connect with their family:
I try to see them on a regular basis. Like my mom, for example, I usually call her on a weekly basis you know.
She lives in California so there's a two-hour difference.
When I go to work, I usually call my mom to talk on the phone and try to catch up with her, you know.
Sometimes we talk for hours sharing old stories and gossiping about current events that are happening in our community” (Der, 52, Female, Hmong).
In addition to using telephones to interact with family, messaging apps and social media were also used to stay con- nected. For example, a Somali participant said:
I usually call my parents um twice a week on Sundays and on Wednesdays; those are like the times that we like catch up and see what’s going on, but I keep in touch with my siblings by like texting, texting them and like sending them snapchats and stuff. That’s how we communicate a lot (Salman, 20, Male, Somali).
Another Hmong participant reported that “I use a lot of Facebook. Facebook is a good tool to connect with my fam- ily and friends” (Thaiv, 53, Male, Hmong).
The third subtheme under the sense of belonging in the family theme is family cohesiveness, and it was especially strong among Hmong and Syrian participants. Family cohe- siveness has been defined as the emotional bond people have with one another, such as getting along well with one another (Olson et al., 1983). According to the participants’
narratives, family togetherness and family connectedness were important to strengthen family cohesiveness.
Having a cohesive family helped participants to cope with life difficulties and made them happy, as a Hmong partici- pant said: “You have a wife and children; you don’t have problems in the family; you can communicate with each other, listen to each other, understand each other, and live together with a smile without problems” (Yeej, 55, Male, Hmong).
Family Centrality
Family centrality was the third theme we found, and it refers to participant statements that highlighted the impor- tance of family in one’s life or the commitment partici- pants showed to their family members. We recognized four subthemes under this theme: family prioritization, family sacrifice, children giving meaning to parents’ life, and family abroad. First, family prioritization refers to
participants valuing the family over the self and other people; they tended to put family above everyone and everything else in life, as illustrated in this quote, “my immediate family is definitely the most important people in my life” (Zamazam). Participants emphasized taking care of each other, including their nuclear family, adult siblings, other immediate family members, and relatives.
For example, a Somali female summarized it this way:
Yeah, so they [nieces and nephews] view me as like their older sister. So basically I think it’s important to have that around…[I] help him with his homework because my mom can’t really help him and then my sister-in-law works full time (Amina, 29, Female, Somali).
Prioritizing the family connects with the second sub- theme, family sacrifice. Family sacrifice refers to family members who are forgoing their passions, aspirations, and goals for the needs of the family and/or making life choices because of the family. Family sacrifice is concep- tually different from family prioritization as family sacri- fice includes an aspect of reluctance or forgoing other pri- orities for the sake of the family. For example, instead of satisfying the self, some participants stated that they had to sacrifice their desires for their family: “I have to work so I could earn money and so my kids could continue to live comfortably and not lack anything” (Zena, 35, Female, Syrian). Another participant said:
My children are very important to me. They are the reason why I came to Minnesota and they are the reason why I do what I do everyday. They are my number one motivation; So, it’s because of my chil- dren that I have to push myself everyday to make my life better (Laj, 60 Male, Hmong).
The third subtheme we discovered was children giving meaning to parents’ life, which refers to children being the reason for parents’ inspirations, hopes, dreams, moti- vation, and sacrifices. For example, participants said that children inspired parents to do better in life, gave par- ents hope, and a reason to work hard. A Hmong mother summarized:
I know that they can’t help me directly but having them around helps me to control myself to be a better person, to be more careful, and to be more conscious of myself when I go out in the community. My chil- dren help me to think about the consequences of my behavior like what would they think of me if I do this? Having them around helps me think about how my behavior could impact my siblings and parents;
they help me to control how I act so I can be a bet- ter person. Having them around helps me to respect
myself so no matter where I go I can raise my head high (Kaj Siab, 56, Female, Hmong).
Finally, for participants, family centrality did not only involve family members living in close proximity, but also included those who had been left behind in the home coun- try. This is captured by the last subtheme: family abroad.
Our participants reported that their family members in the native countries continue to be central to their lives. Some participants, especially the Somali and Syrian participants, stated that thinking about their family’s well-being and safety motivated them to cope with the adversities they faced in America, as indicated by the following quote:
I'll just say that I think being a refugee has definitely shaped my life and you know the choices I continue to make in life because there are people that I've left back home. You know I didn't come here with my immedi- ate family, but I have aunts, cousins, and uncles that I've left, and you know, I support, buy whatever I can to support [them], so it's always remembering that you left people at home and there are people who are wait- ing for you to, you know, to send them money or all that and, you know, just like always at the back burner [of your head] (Ubah, 28, Female, Somali).
Ethnic Community as an Extension of the Family and a Source of Strength
According to the participants, especially Syrians and Somali, who had lost family members during the migration process, the meaning of family was often extended to include close members of their ethnic community. Ethnic communities, or the people who shared the same ethnicity and language, helped participants overcome their trauma, adversities, or acculturative stress. Study participants credited members of their ethnic community for friendship, support, and assis- tance, as described by the following participant:
I have neighbors here that speak the language and we go hang out with them for example...we hang out with them and we ask about life here in detail, and they teach us the rules...about work and things like that. I mean they became like family to us. We love them and they love us...we treat each other with respect...if one of my kids has a fever and I need to take him to the doctor they [will help me] speak [translate] to him [the doctor] (Zena, 35, Female, Syrian).
I’d say even with the struggle, we are a very resilient community, and as long as we stand up for each other, um, look out for each other, and not just look out for your own, for, not just living your own life, going day to day, um, ignoring the outside, ignoring what’s going on in your community, um, the struggle to save your
brothers and sisters, I think that as long as we live as one unit, as a family, um, that keeps me going. (Yusaf, 26, Male, Somali).
Discussion
In this study, we explored the role of family in the adjust- ment process of Hmong, Somali, and Syrian refugees. Our analysis was driven by the data, but we also draw inspiration from the family resilience theory (Walsh, 2002, 2020). We found that despite their history of trauma—from pre-migra- tion to post-resettlement—Hmong, Somali, and Syrian refu- gee participants described in various ways how their family members, family processes, and their ethnic communities helped them to overcome their traumas and life difficulties in the USA and positively influenced their mental health.
Specifically, we found three key family processes and one ethnic community theme that participants reported helping them adjust and adapt to life in America.
First, participants across the three refugee groups reported that social support offered to one another in the family plays a real difference in their lives and their struggles, and this find- ing has also been found in previous family resilience stud- ies (Goodman et al., 2017; McCleary, 2017; Zheng et al., 2020). In line with earlier studies on family resilience, our research emphasizes the vital role of family social support in helping refugees cope with the stress associated with post- resettlement adjustment. Among the various types of social support reported by our participants, emotional, financial, instrumental, and educational support were mentioned the most in regard to the numbers of occurrences within and across groups. Since refugees are more vulnerable to develop adverse mental health outcomes (Pampati et al., 2018) and face more challenges in finding jobs (Akresh, 2006), it is not surprising that emotional, financial, and instrumental support emerged as the most frequently mentioned by the participants. Likewise, since most Somali participants were college students, we were not surprised to find that most nar- ratives about educational support emerged from the Somali group. Moreover, younger as a group, the Somali participants indicated receiving financial support from their families, while seeking to secure education and careers that, in the future, would help them financially support their parents. The Hmong and Syrian participants, as parents and responsible for their families, emphasized the financial support they pro- vided to their families.
When it comes to emotional support, we found some unexpected group differences. Specifically, we found that there were more Somali (n = 12), compared to Syrian (n = 5) and Hmong participants (n = 3), that discussed emotional support playing an important role in helping them cope with their daily lives. Since we did not ask for specific emotional
needs of each group, we speculate that this difference could be due to generation and acculturation levels. All of Somali participants were young college students, relatively strongly acculturated in the American culture. Earlier research indi- cates that acculturated individuals are more likely to talk about emotions than less acculturated individuals (Tsai &
Lu, 2017). Similarly, when the narratives of emotional sup- port were examined closely, Hmong participants tended to specify how the emotional support was carried out and with which family member, compared to Somali and Syrian par- ticipants, where the conversations tended to be more general without naming a particular family member. This willing- ness to disclose private conversations between family mem- bers to the interviewers might have to do with the number of years Hmong have lived in the US (Ngo & Lee, 2007) and the level of experience of the interviewer (the first author).
In addition, the Hmong participants, having personally expe- rienced the role as a child and a parent, were perhaps better able to distinguish more clearly the different kinds of support resources that family members have in different roles.
Second, we found that similar to most refugees and immigrants in the USA (Portes & Rumbaut, 2001), Hmong, Somali, and Syrian participants in this study wanted to feel a sense of belonging in their family and ethnic community.
The experience of living together in close proximity and interacting with one another on a regular basis was consid- ered as an important factor to help cope with adjustment problems across the groups. In line with earlier research, refugees tend to migrate to a location where there is a tie to other family social networks (Bohra-Mishra & Massey, 2011; Chaney et al., 2018; Ellis et al., 2016; Hernández- Plaza et al., 2004; Pfeifer et al., 2012). Being together helps refugees feel connected to their immediate family and this feeling of connection to family, a felt sense of belonging, seems to help refugees overcome life difficulties (Atari-Khan et al., 2021; Chaney et al., 2018). Specifically, we found that those who felt a sense of belonging to their family are also more likely to say that they have someone they can trust to turn for assistance (Ellis et al., 2016). We also found that for some participants, especially for Somali and Syrian partici- pants, thinking about family members who were left behind in the native country and wanting to be reunited helped them remain hopeful and take on the challenges they faced. When it comes to family cohesiveness, as an interesting difference between the groups, we noticed the Somali participants, being the youngest as a group, experienced some tensions between their heritage culture represented by their families and the cultural values in the USA. Unlike the other two groups, they faced the task of building a life and career that would align with both sets of values.
Third, family centrality is crucial for refugees to adapt to their new home country, and family centrality was a finding across all three groups in our study. To the
participants, family was defined more broadly than the traditional definition of the nuclear family (two adults with at least a child, own or adopted, living in the same space; Georgas, 2003) to also include family other than immediate family members such as adult siblings, aunts, uncles, nephews, cousins, and in-laws. These individuals are expected to take care of each other and satisfy each other’s needs in order to survive and thrive as a group.
Evidence from the participants suggests that by focusing on the family, it helps to alleviate the challenges of life in America, and this finding is also in line with other studies with refugee populations (Atari-Khan et al., 2021;
Ellis et al., 2016; Löbel, 2020; McCleary, 2017). When it comes to family sacrifice, we detected an interesting difference between the three groups. As more mature, the Hmong and Syrian participants reported making sacrifices for their families. The Hmong participants arrived in the USA relatively old, and many could not find the opportunity to educate themselves or found it very difficult as they had to support their families and enter work directly. To them, however, an important goal was to offer education opportunities to their children. The Somali participants, having arrived as adolescents and being much younger, building their own lives meant also building lives that would support their families and make their parents proud. For them, pursuing a better life was entwined with pursuing a better life for the family, rather than with a sense of sacrifice.
Lastly, we found that many of the participants in this study also reported the importance of their ethnic com- munity, especially the people who shared the same eth- nicity and language, in helping them to overcome their traumas, adversities, or acculturative stress. Ethnic com- munity seems to serve an important purpose during the early years of adjustment since most refugees resettle in the country of destination without their whole family (Löbel, 2020; Rousseau et al., 2001). Thus, those par- ticipants living in isolation from their core or extended families tended to recreate a sense of family by reaching out to neighbors, friends, and staff who work in refu- gee serving organizations (Hynie, Crooks, & Barragan, 2011). According to the participants, recreating a sense of family with nonfamilial members also helped make them feel a sense of belonging and expand their resources to cope with difficulties of living in America. In sum, this finding highlights the importance of the family in refugee resettlement. When family is not present due to war and separation (Boccagni, 2013; Löbel, 2020;
Rousseau et al., 2001) and refugee resettlement pro- grams (Schacher, 2020), refugees in our study actively constructed new social relationships that they could call
“family” to substitute for what they missed in the country of destination.
Contributions of the Study
Our study contributes in four ways to the literature on refugee adjustment and family's role in that process. First, instead of focusing on the deleterious impact of migration on refugees and refugee families (El-Khani et al., 2016;
Koshen, 2007; Lee & Chang, 2012; Pan et al., 2006; Salami et al., 2017; Su et al., 2005; Xiong et al., 2005), we inves- tigate the beneficial role of the family in helping refugees cope with the difficult life after the resettlement. Although our interviews were not based on the family resilience the- ory (Walsh, 2002, 2020), our findings highlight key fam- ily processes (i.e., family support, family centrality, sense of belonging in the family) that are “dynamics within [the]
family, and communities around [the] family” (Power et al., 2016, p. 67) that help refugees to adapt to the stressful life in the USA. Given the limited research on family resilience with Hmong, Somali, and Syrian refugees (Atari-Khan et al., 2021; Detnzer, 1996; Detzner et al., 2009; Ellis et al., 2016), future studies need to be designed based on this theoreti- cal framework to include larger sample sizes with multiple refugee groups using a quantitative methodology. Such stud- ies can help to inform future research, interventions, and immigration policies regarding what constitutes a family and how refugees are placed when resettling in the country of destination.
Second, we focused on three refugee groups from three different parts of the world and coming to the USA in dif- ferent time periods. These three refugee groups have some of their major settlement areas in the American Midwest (where we collected our data), and consequently, their life experiences and adjustment outcomes are important to the geographical area as whole. To our knowledge, this is the first study to analyze shared and distinct experiences among Hmong, Somali, and Syrian refugees. Across these groups, our study offers insights into the role of the family in help- ing refugees navigate the new culture and cope with the acculturative stress; challenges faced by refugees in general (Betancourt et al., 2015; Choi et al., 2008; Connor et al., 2016; El-Khani et al., 2016). Our findings highlight shared patterns across the groups concerning the family’s signifi- cance in refugee adjustment. Across differences in age, reset- tlement time, gender, race, religion, and ethnicity, factors such as the importance of belonging in a family and family centrality stood as vital for experienced positive adjustment.
However, having participants from different age groups and with different family roles highlights some differences in the groups’ experiences. Most importantly, the Hmong and Syrian participants with the responsibility to support, first, their families financially and, second, their children through education often mentioned these responsibilities towards their families. To a degree, these responsibilities entailed making sacrifices for their families (e.g., not personally
