Open this publication in new window or tab >>2022 (English)Report (Refereed)
Abstract [en]
Approximately 452 million children were living in a conflict zone in 2020, and almost half of the roughly 80 million forcibly displaced people worldwide are children. Many of the countries most affected by conflict are developing countries with a young and growing population.
War and displacement entail a wide range of adversity, with several negative impacts on children’s psychological development. These include mental health disorders, emotional and conduct problems, and impaired cognitive development, which have relevance for their life opportunities, including social relations, school performance and labour market success. While physical development is important, the development of the child’s emotional, social and cognitive abilities is equally crucial. The early years of childhood represent the ‘window of opportunity’ that shapes the child’s whole development experience throughout life. Research shows that the development potential of 250 million children under five years (around 43 per cent) in low- and middle-income countries is at stake. Also, there is a high probability that children will experience delayed early childhood development with exposure to local conflicts, and this delay increases with chronic exposure.
Perhaps somewhat surprising, however, is that research has also uncovered widespread resilience and even increased prosocial behaviour among children exposed to war violence. Resilience is a broad concept concerning the capacity to respond when challenged, return to stability, adjust to a new normal, or transform to survive or flourish. One approach to building resilience is the protection of child mental health and development through providing special care in the early stages of a child’s life. Addressing children’s resilience and early childhood psychological development is essential to limit human suffering, rebuild war-torn societies and evade recurring conflicts. Therefore, an important question is: What could be done to protect child development in the midst of conflict?
This SIPRI Topical Backgrounder provides an overview of existing aid-supported programmes and current practices to protect and promote children’s psychological development in war and displacement, followed by a review of a selection of rigorous research from the body of relevant literature to suggest ways forward.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Solna: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), 2022. p. 8
National Category
Psychology (excluding Applied Psychology)
Research subject
Psychology; Peace and Conflict Research
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-474140 (URN)
2022-05-092022-05-092022-05-11Bibliographically approved