War-wounded refugees: labor market integration after two years in Sweden

This study investigated labor market integration in a group of war-wounded refugees after two years in Sweden. The study group consisted of 54 war-wounded asylum applicants ( n =25) and quota refugees ( n =29) who arrived in Sweden in the late 1980s. They were consecutively investigated during hospitalization, shortly after arrival, and followed up two years later. After two years, 24% were at work or were occupied in vocational training courses. The degree of disability was not related to labor market integration. Length of time spent in the municipality was directly associated with labor market integration. Present well-being, Swedish language skill and education were factors related to integration. However, these factors differed in their relation to labor market integration when the length of time spent in the municipality was considered. With respect to the first two years in Sweden, the war-wounded group seemed to follow well an ideal labor market integration process for refugees. A short wait for a municipality to reside in and a careful introduction into the municipality might have been available for this group more than for other refugees.     

War-wounded refugees in Sweden

Sixty-one newly arrived war-wounded refugees were interviewed about their background and flight while treated at the Medical Center for Refugees, University Hospital, Linköping, Sweden. They came from 9 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Spinal cord injuries, nerve lesions, amputations and fractures were the most frequent injuries. The group was heavily burdened with regard to factors that might be of significance for wellbeing and integration in Swedish society: torture (51%), imprisonment (49%), loss of kin in war (62%), difficulties while growing up (54%), little or no schooling (48%), not having made the decision to flee oneself (46%) and having to leave the family behind (90%). This study is a first step in a longitudinal research project to shed light upon the situation of war-wounded refugees on arrival in Sweden and after 2 years.     

Exploring intergenerational communication and stress in refugee families

More than half of the refugees who have resettled to the United States in recent years have been youth. Refugee youth have often witnessed or experienced violence and family separation prior to resettlement and face barriers to successful resettlement such as language and educational challenges. These factors elevate risk for mental and emotional distress, and protective factors like strong familial relationships are important to promoting mental well‐being. This study utilized focus groups with 36 refugees ages 18 to 25 from four ethnic groups to explore conceptualizations of and communication about mental and emotional distress within and outside of family systems. Youth reported a nuanced conceptualization of their premigration and postmigration stressors and their patterns of communication about distress in three domains: (a) exposure to traumatic stress prior to resettlement, (b) stressful experiences in resettlement, and (c) communication about mental health inside and outside of family groups.     

Youth unemployment and mental health – gender differences and economic stress

This article accounts for a study among 81 unemployed people under 25 years of age and 143 youth trainees in a small municipality in central Sweden. The results show an explicit relationship between unemployment and mental ill health among young people. One unemployed man of four and every second unemployed woman feels that the mental well-being grew worse when they became unemployed. The opposite is experienced by one male youth trainee of four and four female youth trainees of ten, who state that their mental well-being improved when they got into a youth training program after having earlier been unemployed. The results also show that young people with poor finances on the whole have more mental troubles and anxiety about the future than young people with good finances have. The article discusses possible explanations for the patterns with respect to gender and the private financial situations that appear in the results.     

SKILLS RECOGNITION AND REFUGEES: MIGRANTS WITHOUT OPTIONS

In the post-war years, Australia has accepted more refugees on a per capita basis than any other country. Refugees are unlike other migrants in that they are forced to move. They have no option. They arrive unprepared for settlement. They have more difficulty finding employment, especially at an appropriate level, than other immigrants. They often come without format documents, with limited English language ability and with few supports. All of these factors make skills recognition even more difficult than for other non-English speaking background immigrants. Different training models, continued chauvinism about Australian training versus overseas training, inadequate attention to existing skills and the protectionist policies of some employers, professional bodies, etc all militate against refugees slotting into the labour market at a level commensurate with their pre-flight level. Australia needs to do more than select people and then leave them to their own devices. Carefully planned and ongoing programs are needed to help refugees integrate satisfactorily into the labour market. There is still a perception among refugees that Australia only wants them as labourers.     

Mental Health and Social Exclusion among Unemployed Youth in Scandinavia. A Comparative Study

Although there has been considerable research on the relationship between mental health problems and unemployment among youth in a national context, there have been few comparative studies involving countries with different cultures and different levels of unemployment. Surveys in the five Nordic countries (Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark) of nearly 8,000 young unemployed people enable us to study young peoples' experience of unemployment in a comparative perspective. Representative samples of unemployed youth were drawn from the national unemployment registers. In Sweden the sample consisted of 3,998 young people with a response rate of 63%, in Finland 2,386 (response rate 73%), Iceland 2,280 (response rate 60%), Denmark 1,540 (response rate 76%) and Norway 2,000 (response rate 56%). The data were later coupled to data from the unemployment register in the respective countries. The populations were interviewed 6 to 12 months after they were registered as unemployed.     

"Never right, never wrong": child welfare and social work in England and Sweden

When are parents “unfit” to care for their own children? As in many other countries, social workers in England and Sweden have the unenviable task of forming such judgments. On behalf of society at large, social workers must balance the rights of parents to provide continuing care with the responsibilities of the state in ensuring adequate care of children. They are involved in professional judgments which are also inherently political. In both England and Sweden social workers are able to seek legal orders which, if granted, permit compulsory removal of children against the wishes of parents. In such cases social workers are centrally involved in processes which remove ordinary rights of citizenship from their fellow members of society. The rights of parents and children, together with the responsibilities of the state to each class of citizen, are clearly in focus: intervention in family life requires both grounds and legitimation. But what is the basis of intervention in the two societies? Social work practices in Sweden and England suggest very different answers to this question. In explaining these differences it is necessary to address much broader variations of social and political culture in the two societies. In so doing, variations in social work practice can be located in different cultural values and systems of legitimation. Instabilities and pathologies of professional practices can also be identified within both England and Sweden. These too are quite different in the two societies.     

Intervening in youth problem behavior in Sweden: a pragmatic cost analysis of MST from a randomized trial with conduct disordered youth

Olsson TM. Intervening in youth problem behavior in Sweden: a pragmatic cost analysis of MST from a randomized trial with conduct disordered youth Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 194–205 © 2009 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. Within the context of a randomized trial, this study assessed the costs of treating conduct disorder with multisystemic therapy (MST) or treatment as usual (TAU) for 156 youth in Sweden. From the perspective of the municipal Social Welfare Administration, all intervention costs were collected for the 6‐month period starting at randomization. MST was found to cost, on average, US$8,847 per youth. A course of intervention including MST was found to cost significantly more (US$5,038 per youth) than TAU. Although MST was found to reduce the use of and costs associated with non‐placement interventions, MST was not found to reduce the use of or costs associated with placement interventions. This is contrary to findings reported from studies undertaken in the USA. Intent‐to‐treat (ITT) and treatment‐of‐treated (TOT) analyses are presented.     

Instability and caregiving in the lives of street‐involved youth from foster care

A large proportion of youth who become street‐involved have experience in foster care, and our sample of 92 street‐involved youth, aged 14–18 years, all had foster care experience. We report on (i) instability of guardians and home from birth to street involvement; (ii) the connection between perceptions about foster care and measures of well‐being; and (iii) the implications of these findings for understanding street‐involved youth and the role of foster care in their life. The average number of transitions per youth from birth to mid‐teens was nine. Youth with experience in permanent care first lived away from biological parents at age 8.5 years, and for those with temporary care experience, it was age 10 years. Foster care was one of many living situations and one of several sources of caregivers. If participants were satisfied with foster care, they were more likely to be currently hopeful and happy. Participants who experienced positive influences from at least one long‐term caregiver tended to have other positive caregiver experiences, and those with negative influences were more likely to also have a positive relationship with a female caregiver. Foster care was one of several ‘way stations’ in their lives, one whose meaning needs further study.     

Assimilation and participation in social assistance among immigrants

This article analyses assimilation and social assistance participation among immigrants in Sweden. Probit regressions are used in order to estimate the participation rates in social assistance among different groups of immigrants and native-born Swedes. The analysis is based upon panel data since the same individuals have been tracked in different years. The results show that among immigrants from the Nordic countries and from Western societies the participation rates are about the same as among comparable native-born Swedes. Immigrants from South European and non-European countries are over-represented in welfare usage. This over-representation remains even after controlling for differences in observable characteristics such as age, gender, family situation and educational attainment. Non-European immigrants assimilate out of welfare dependency at a faster rate than European immigrants, but despite this, non-European immigrants are over-represented in social assistance utilisation even after 20–25 years of residence in Sweden.     

Christian democracy, social democracy and the paradoxes of earnings-related social security

This article compares the retirement policies of Belgium and Sweden in order to reveal the different incentive structures built into the pensions systems prevailing in countries that are taken to represent different approaches to welfare capitalism. It addresses the question of why in a Christian Democratic welfare state that is said to grant pensions rights on the basis of merit and past work performance one can find extremely low labour-force participation rates among elderly workers, while in a Social Democratic welfare state that is supposed to grant pension rights relatively independent of past labour-market performance, one can find quite high participation rates amongst that section of the labour force. This apparent paradox is explained in terms of the different purposes of the early-retirement schemes in the two countries: in Belgium they were primarily part of a strategy to combat (youth) unemployment, in Sweden they had more to do with reforms that sought to accomplish a 'humanisation of work' by softening the abrupt transition from work into retirement.     

Why Are They Leaving? Factors Affecting Intention to Leave among Social Workers in Child Welfare

This article addresses a topic that has not previously beenresearched in Sweden, i.e. factors associated with the intentionof social workers to leave their place of work. A comprehensivequestionnaire was distributed to 309 social workers in childwelfare in the County of Stockholm (drop-out rate: 3 per cent).The study comprised a total of forty-two workgroups. All thesocial workers handling referrals and investigating the situationof children and youth in these areas were included. One of themost striking results was that although 54 per cent of the socialworkers had been at their current workplace for two years orless, 48 per cent intended to leave their jobs. A logistic regressionanalysis showed that the variable of greatest importance forthe intention to leave the workplace was lack of human resourceorientation within the organization, i.e. the extent to whichpersonnel are rewarded for a job well done, feel well takencare of and where management is interested in their health andwell-being. A final conclusion of this study is that when measuringthe impact of different aspects of work tasks compared withsome aspects of organizational culture, it becomes clear thatthe latter seem to be most important in this respect.     

Young carers in Sweden—A pilot study of care activities,view of caring,and psychological well‐being

Children who have parents with any kind of illness may become young carers who take a responsibility not expected of children for household tasks, or personal or emotional care for parents and siblings. So far, little is known about children in Sweden who are at risk of becoming young carers. The aim of this article is therefore to explore the extent and impact of children's caring activities as reported in a pilot study by a sample of children in Sweden. A number of international questionnaires measuring the amount of caring activities, impact of caring, quality of life, and psychological well‐being were translated and combined into a survey. The pilot survey was completed by 30 children 10–18 years of age. Also, when completing the survey, the children were interviewed concerning their experiences of caregiving. The participants report on a group level emotional symptoms such as fear and nervousness above the clinical cut‐off value. They also rate a lower level of caring compared with findings from the United Kingdom, but they report a higher degree of negative impact of caring than young carers in the United Kingdom.     

Adopted foster youths' psychosocial functioning: a longitudinal perspective

Researchers have long debated whether adopted youth manifest disproportionate levels of psychological dysfunction compared with non‐adopted youth. Yet, missing from the debate has been a clear understanding of the specific subgroups of adopted youth who may develop behaviour problems and of the risk factors associated with various vulnerable populations. This longitudinal study examined one subpopulation of adopted youth – former foster children – in order to determine their immediate and long‐term functioning, particularly in comparison with their adopted non‐foster care peers. The central goal of this study was to ascertain the prevalence of behavioural problems in adopted foster youth compared with adopted non‐foster youth and to chart the longitudinal course of their behavioural problems. Participants included adopted foster youth (n = 293) and adopted non‐foster youth (n = 312) from a statewide sample of adopted youth, aged 2–18 years. Data were collected from the adoptive parents at approximately 2, 4 and 8 years after adoption. Adoptive parents rated youths’ functioning with the Behaviour Problems Inventory. According to parental report, a striking number of the foster youth displayed behaviour problems, although the non‐foster care group of children also displayed noteworthy levels of problem behaviours. The rates of behaviour problems in both groups far exceed what is observed in the general population of children.     

Economic self-sufficiency and the employment outcomes of care leavers: A 10-year follow up

Gaining employment and reaching a stable and self-sufficient livelihood are essential life tasks, especially for young people ageing out of public care. This longitudinal study followed alumni of welfare and educational residential care settings in Israel for 10 years after leaving care. Here, we describe care leavers' employment and economic self-sufficiency outcomes and examine differences over time in their experiences. They were interviewed at the age of 19, 1-year post-care (N = 235), 3 years later (N = 222) and 10 years after ageing out (N = 151). Results paint a mixed picture. While the majority of participants were employed, many in stable jobs, their wages were low even as they grow older. At the same time, they experienced significant economic hardships. For some, economic hardship decreased with time, but for others it remained a cause for concern. Our findings highlight the inherent dependency between experiences at different life stages and suggest that providing more support to care leavers would improve their economic outcomes.     

Patterns of social assistance receipt in Sweden

This article analyses the situation of Swedish-born people who became first-time receivers of social assistance in 1987 and 1992. The macroeconomic situation at the time of entry was rather different for the two cohorts and the number of new entrances increased by almost 50%. Much of the increase consisted of young adults and experience of social assistance has been shown to be fairly widespread among persons under the age of 25. Bridging the period when individuals are supported by their parents to their becoming established as wage earners has become an important function of social assistance in Sweden. The pattern of social assistance receipt is rather heterogeneous across new recipients. The complex pattern of receipt means that the duration of social assistance can appear to vary depending on one's choice of perspective. On the one hand, the median duration of social assistance receipt is as low as two years when an eleven-year follow-up period is applied. On the other hand, among people who receive social assistance during a given year, as many as half had entered receipt more than four years earlier.     

Education in the Context of Conflict and Instability: The Palestinian Case

This paper draws on the results of a study carried out in the West Bank, in 1999, to explore the role of education as a coping strategy among the children of Palestinian refugees, and to examine how the state of being refugees affects perceptions of the value and importance of education. The paper first reviews the background to the development of a formal education system in Palestine and considers the different approaches to education in different political contexts, with ensuing particular reference to the West Bank. The findings of the regional study are then reported, with special reference to the various functions of education as a coping strategy—remedial, incentive‐mobilizing and identity‐building. Education, for those who have lost their property and whose identity is under threat, emerges as a key channel for maintaining consciousness of collective rights.     

Characteristics of the Social Support Networks of Maltreated Youth: Exploring the Effects of Maltreatment Experience and Foster Placement

Little is known about the social support networks of maltreated youth or how youth in foster care may compare with those who remain with their parent(s). Social network characteristics and perceived social support were examined between (1) maltreated and comparison youth, (2) maltreated youth who remained with their biological parent, those with a foster parent, or a those with a kin caregiver, and (3) youth in stable placements and those who have changed placements. Data came from a sample of 454 adolescents (241 boys, 9–13 years old at enrollment) who took part in a longitudinal study of child maltreatment. Participants completed three assessments approximately 1 year apart. Results showed that on average, maltreated adolescents named significantly fewer people in their network than comparison adolescents. At Time 2, comparison adolescents reported more same‐aged friends. In the maltreatment group, youth with a foster parent reported significantly more older friends than maltreated youth with a kin caregiver. Fewer maltreated youth named a biological parent on the social support questionnaire at all three time points. More youth in kinship care described their caregiver as supportive than those in foster care. These findings indicate that despite heterogeneous placement histories, social support networks among maltreated youth were very similar.     

The ‘flood’ of 1945: regimes and repertoires of migration in the Soviet Union at war’s end

The pioneering migration scholar Eugene Kulischer employed the metaphor of the ‘flood’ to characterize the movement of peoples across Eurasia at the end of the Second World War. This article builds on that metaphor by analysing the range of Soviet citizens’ migratory movements within and back to the USSR in 1945. It pays special attention to settlers, deportees, returning evacuees, repatriates, demobilized soldiers and itinerants. Not only did these different groups of migrants appear simultaneously, but each produced the other: settlers moved to deportees’ vacated land; many demobilized soldiers and evacuees were recruited as settlers; some repatriates were deported; and those escaping deportation often became itinerants. In each case the article examines the interaction between the state’s migration regimes – its projects and provision of infrastructure to move people – and migrants’ repertoires, that is, their reliance on networks of kinship and friendship to avoid or mitigate hardship and maximize opportunities. It argues that the fulfilment of the state’s agendas with respect to migration depended not only on its regimes but migrants’ own practices.     

Variability in the Inter‐group Attitudes of White Children: What We Can Learn from Their Ethnic Identity Labels

The current study examined the ethnic identity of White (N = 120), Latino (N = 87), and African‐American (N = 65) children and early adolescents (aged = 9–14 years), with an emphasis on whether the specific ethnic label White children used to describe themselves might reflect differences in their inter‐group attitudes and whether those differences mirror group differences between White children and children in ethnic minority groups. Results indicated that White children who identified with a minority label (i.e., White biracial, hyphenated American, ethnic/cultural/religious label) had more positive ethnic identities, were more aware of discrimination, and were less likely to show biases in their perceived similarity to in‐group and out‐group peers than youth who identified as White or American. In many instances, White children who identified with a minority label did not differ from ethnic minority youth. In addition, although all participants were more positive about their ethnic in‐group than out‐groups, children who identified their ethnicity as American were less positive about out‐groups relative to other children. Taken together, the findings indicate that children's self‐chosen ethnic identity is as important as their ascribed ethnic or racial identity in predicting their inter‐group attitudes.