The effect of internal and external social support on refugee adaptation : psychological and economic adaptation of Iraqi refugees

This study was designed to examine the effect of social support on refugee adaptation as well as to obtain descriptive information about adaptation (economic self-sufficiency and mental health) and social support of Iraqi refugees, one of the refugee groups whose numbers have increased substantially in the last few years. Although social support (assistance, comfort, or information which an individual receive through interconnected human relationships) has been found to be a significant predictor for refugee adaptation in many studies in the past, few studies have examined the various sources of social support. This study classified social support into two kinds, internal social support (family, relatives, Iraqi and Arabic friends) and external social support (social service providers, non- Arabic friends), and examined how each social support affects both economic and psychological adaptation. Data were collected from 105 Iraqi adult male refugees resettled in Chattanooga, Knoxville, Nashville, and Memphis, Tennessee, and in Clarkston, Georgia. The findings revealed that Iraqi refugees, like other refugee groups, are struggling to resettle psychologically and economically in this country and to develop and maintain a large social network. Iraqi refugees, however, are forced to utilize more external social support than other refugee groups because of a lack of internal social support. The results of regression analyses indicate that internal social support is the better predictor for psychological adaptation while both internal and external social support are important for economic adaptation. The unique finding of this study, however, is that an interaction effect of internal and external social support on refugee adaptation was confirmed. These results suggest that social workers need to examine the availability of internal social support in the local area, and have to adjust their roles accordingly. In an area where Iraqi refugees can obtain internal social support, social workers should help Iraqi refugees develop and access the ethnic community. On the other hand, social workers need to take more active roles and provide direct and clinical assistance in those areas where internal social support is not available.