Why do citizens want to keep refugees out? Threats, fairness and hostile norms in the treatment of asylum seekers

A social identity framework was employed to understand why people support the exclusionary treatment of refugee claimants ('asylum seekers') in Australia. Over and above individual difference affects of social dominance orientation and individuals' instrumental threat perceptions, insecure intergroup relations between citizens and asylum seekers were proposed to motivate exclusionary attitudes and behaviour In addition, perceived procedural and distributive fairness were proposed to mediate the effects of social identity predictors on intergroup competitiveness, serving to legitimise citizens' exclusionary behaviours. Support for these propositions was obtained in a longitudinal study, of 'Australians' social attitudes and behaviour. Small and inconsistent individual-level effects were noted. In contrast, after controlling,for these variables, hostile Australian norms, perceived legitimacy of citizen status, and threatening socio-structural relations were strongly and consistently linked to intentions to support the harsh Treatment of asylum seekers, and exclusionary attitudes and action at Time 2. Moreover, perceived procedural and distributive justice significantly mediated these relationships. The roles of fairness and intergroup socio-structural perceptions in social attitudes and actions are discussed

Help-seeking for mental health problems in young refugees: A Review of the literature with implications for policy, practice, and research

The large and diverse bodies of literature on refugee child and adolescent mental health have not been matched by a commensurate interest in help-seeking. Most help-seeking research has centred on Western and, to a lesser extent, non-refugee ethnic minority adult populations. An emerging child and adolescent help-seeking literature consistently reports widespread underutilization of mental health services by children in the general population. Current research and opinion suggest a similar trend for refugee and other ethnic minority children. While service underutilization appears to be an issue for all children, those from refugee backgrounds may be at increased risk of mental health problems and have greater difficulty accessing mental health care. From a policy and practice perspective, the most important explanation for low uptake of services by refugee families concerns an overall failure of Western mental health systems to accommodate the needs of ethnically diverse populations in general and refugees in particular. In order to effectively plan for the mental health needs of refugee children and adolescents, Western host country governments need a clear understanding of help-seeking behaviour.Helena De Anstiss, Tahereh Ziaian, Nicholas Procter, & Jane Warland, Peter Baghurs