May 02, 2020 20:00:00

'Long-term poverty' adversely affects young people's cognitive function rather than trauma caused by war

The

Syrian Civil War , which is taking place in Syria even at the time of writing the article, triggered by the anti-government demonstration campaign ' Arab Spring ' that occurred in the Arab world from 2010 to 2012, caused the world's largest refugee problem since World War II. I am born. Research team of Yale University, to target the young people of Syria refugees cognitive impairment conducted research of, by civil war trauma instead of (trauma), have argued that poverty is what has disturbed cognitive ability development of young people .

Minds Under Siege: Cognitive Signatures of Poverty and Trauma in Refugee and Non‐Refugee Adolescents-Chen-2019-Child Development-Wiley Online Library
https://srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cdev.13320

Study: Poverty, not trauma, affects cognitive function in refugee youth | YaleNews
https://news.yale.edu/2019/10/24/study-poverty-not-trauma-affects-cognitive-function-refugee-youth

The research team surveyed 240 Syrian refugees aged 12 to 18 and 210 non-refugees aged 12 to 18 years living in Irbid , Jarash , Mafraq , and Zarqa in northern Jordan, which were heavily affected by the Syrian civil war. The researchers asked the subjects to solve the task using a tablet device and evaluated their skills related to working memory and impulse control .

As a result, there was no significant difference in working memory or urge control between refugee and non-refugee youth. On the other hand, there was a correlation between working memory and the poverty level of refugees.

The research team further said the results are consistent with those of children in the United States, and the lack of working memory among adolescents is due to the psychological burden of family poverty rather than to trauma and violence. Suggests the possibility.

`` Our study tests cognitive ability in real-life situations on both refugee and non-refugee groups, '' said Katherine Panter-Brick , professor of anthropology at Yale University and lead investigator of this study. , Is the first study to isolate the effects of poverty, violence, anxiety, and traumatic stress disorder, which provides important insights into the relationship between childhood adversity and cognitive function. '

'It's surprising that only poverty affected working memory, given the Syrian youth who participated in the study had multiple trauma-related traumas,' Panther =. Comment from Brick. 'Humanitarian organizations that support victims of war often want to improve their communication and social skills as well as their childhood and adolescent educational outcomes. But learning Working memory is important to the results, and continuous poverty has a major impact on working memory. '