Effectiveness of Promotive and Preventive Psychosocial Interventions on Improving the Mental Health of Finnish-Born and Immigrant Adolescents

Background: Schools are considered natural environments in which to enhance students’ social–emotional skills and mental health in general, but they can be especially important for students with refugee and immigrant backgrounds. The current study tested the effectiveness of two school-based interventions in enhancing the mental health and wellbeing of adolescents of native, refugee, and immigrant backgrounds. It further analyzed the role of age, gender, daily stressors, and discrimination in affecting the interventions’ effectiveness. Methods: A three-arm cluster RCT with parallel assignment was applied among the 16 schools. Schools were randomized to three conditions of two active interventions and a waiting-list control condition. Students (n = 1974) filled in an online questionnaire at baseline before the interventions, after the interventions, and at follow-up an average of 9 months after the interventions. The effectiveness criteria were internalizing and externalizing problems, resilience, and prosocial behavior. Results: Interventions were generally not effective in decreasing mental health problems and increasing psychosocial resources. The expected positive intervention effects were dependent on students’ age and gender and exposure to socioeconomic daily stressors. Conclusion: Interventions enhancing teacher awareness and peer relationships at school should be carefully tailored according to the strengths and vulnerabilities of participating students, especially their daily stress exposure, but also age and gender.

"It's very hard, but I'll manage." Educational aspirations and educational resilience among recently resettled young refugees in Norwegian upper secondary schools

Purpose: This article explores the question: what shapes young refugees' often high educational aspirations? A sense of mastery and future hope are among the numerous factors that can positively predict school achievements. High aspirations may thus contribute to both young refugees' improved educational outcomes and wellbeing. Method: We discuss findings from semi-structured interviews in three Norwegian upper secondary schools in light of theories and research into the often high educational aspirations of immigrant youth.   Results: Several of the study's findings support the dual frame of reference theory which has been used in prior discussions of migrants' aspirations. However, we argue that aspirations can be supported not only by comparisons with the country of origin, but also by comparisons with different stages of the refugee experience. Conclusions: The findings suggest that temporal aspects of high aspirations should be empirically and theoretically explored further. Moreover, this and other studies' findings on young refugees suggest that research into the educational aspirations of young immigrants should address/control for migration category.