Compounding inequalities: Adolescent psychosocial wellbeing and resilience among refugee and host communities in Jordan during the COVID-19 pandemic
Date
2022-02-02
Authors
Jones, Nicola
Baird, Sarah
Abu Hamad, Bassam
Bhutta, Zulfiqar A.
Oakley, Erin
Shah, Manisha
Sajdi, Jude
Yount, Kathryn M.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
PLOS
Abstract
Purpose
The COVID-19 pandemic and associated risk-mitigation strategies have altered the social
contexts in which adolescents in low- and middle-income countries live. Little is known, however,
about the impacts of the pandemic on displaced populations, and how those impacts
differ by gender and life stage. We investigate the extent to which the pandemic has compounded
pre-existing social inequalities among adolescents in Jordan, and the role support
structures play in promoting resilience.
Methods
Our analysis leverages longitudinal quantitative survey data and in-depth qualitative interviews,
collected before and after the onset of COVID-19, with over 3,000 Syrian refugees,
stateless Palestinians and vulnerable Jordanians, living in camps, host communities and
informal tented settlements. We utilize mixed-methods analysis combining multivariate
regression with deductive qualitative tools to evaluate pandemic impacts and associated
policy responses on adolescent wellbeing and mental health, at three and nine months after
the pandemic onset. We also explore the role of support systems at individual, household,
community, and policy levels.
Findings
We find the pandemic has resulted in severe economic and service disruptions with farreaching
and heterogenous effects on adolescent wellbeing. Nine months into the pandemic,
19.3% of adolescents in the sample presented with symptoms of moderate-to severe depression, with small signs of improvement (3.2 percentage points [pp], p<0.001). Two
thirds of adolescents reported household stress had increased during the pandemic, especially
for Syrian adolescents in host communities (10.7pp higher than any other group,
p<0.001). Social connectedness was particularly low for girls, who were 13.4 percentage
points (p<0.001) more likely than boys to have had no interaction with friends in the past 7
days. Adolescent programming shows signs of being protective, particularly for girls, who
were 8.8 percentage points (p<0.01) more likely to have a trusted friend than their peers
who were not participating in programming.
Conclusions
Pre-existing social inequalities among refugee adolescents affected by forced displacement
have been compounded during the COVID-19 pandemic, with related disruptions to services
and social networks. To achieve Sustainable Development Goal targets to support
healthy and empowered development in adolescence and early adulthood requires interventions
that target the urgent needs of the most vulnerable adolescents while addressing
population-level root causes and determinants of psychosocial wellbeing and resilience for
all adolescent girls and boys.
Description
Keywords
Citation
Jones N, Baird S, Abu Hamad B, Bhutta ZA, Oakley E, Shah M, et al. (2022) Compounding inequalities: Adolescent psychosocial wellbeing and resilience among refugee and host communities in Jordan during the COVID-19 pandemic. PLoS ONE 17(2): e0261773. https://doi. org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261773