IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v22y2025i3p328-d1597643.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Family and Peer Support Facilitates Recall and Retelling of Traumatic Memories in War Refugee Children and Adolescents

Author

Listed:
  • Arianna Barazzetti

    (Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, 24129 Bergamo, Italy
    Milan Centre of Family Therapy, 20123 Milan, Italy)

  • Stefano Milesi

    (Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, 24129 Bergamo, Italy)

  • Francesca Giordano

    (Resilience Research Unit, University Catholic of Milan, 20123 Milan, Italy)

  • Maria Chiara Noto

    (Milan Centre of Family Therapy, 20123 Milan, Italy)

  • Attà Negri

    (Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, 24129 Bergamo, Italy)

Abstract

War refugees are more likely to present psychological disorders, such as PTSD. Memory impairments often hinder their ability to recall and integrate traumatic events. This study investigated the memory capacity of 133 Syrian refugee children and adolescents in Lebanon and examined the moderating role of resilience in the relationship between exposure to negative events, post-traumatic stress reactions, and traumatic events recollection. Participants completed the Childhood War Trauma Questionnaire (CWTQ), Post-Traumatic Symptom Reactions Checklist for Children (PTSR-C), and Child and Youth Resilience Measure-28 (CYRM-28). They also performed a timeline exercise, part of Narrative Exposure Therapy, in which they organized and described their positive and negative life memories. Results showed that memories of traumatic events were lower than potentially traumatic events that participants had witnessed. This difference increased as post-traumatic stress increased. Moreover, potentially traumatic events experienced predicted post-traumatic stress reactions, and these predicted negative memories recalled. Participants’ resilience moderated the association between post-traumatic reactions and remembered traumatic memories showing that only for children and adolescents with higher resilience post-traumatic symptoms predicted trauma-related memories. The results highlight meaning making and sharing capacities of natural relational contexts (family, peers, etc.) as potential key processes to be promoted to overcome and process traumatic events.

Suggested Citation

  • Arianna Barazzetti & Stefano Milesi & Francesca Giordano & Maria Chiara Noto & Attà Negri, 2025. "Family and Peer Support Facilitates Recall and Retelling of Traumatic Memories in War Refugee Children and Adolescents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 22(3), pages 1-18, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:22:y:2025:i:3:p:328-:d:1597643
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/3/328/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/3/328/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marco Castiglioni & Cristina Liviana Caldiroli & Rossella Procaccia & Federica Conte & Robert A. Neimeyer & Claudia Zamin & Anna Paladino & Attà Negri, 2023. "The Up-Side of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Are Core Belief Violation and Meaning Making Associated with Post-Traumatic Growth?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(11), pages 1-16, May.
    2. Attà Negri & Arianna Barazzetti & Alice Rinzivillo & Rachele Mariani & Cinzia Di Monte, 2024. "Cognitive and Relational Processes Associated to Mental Health in Italian High School Students during COVID-19 and Russian–Ukrainian War Outbreaks," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(4), pages 1-19, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Arianna Barazzetti & Stefano Milesi & Attà Negri, 2024. "Exploring Factors Influencing COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy and Refusal: A Study in Italy during the Vaccine Rollout," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(3), pages 1-12, March.
    2. Attà Negri & Arianna Barazzetti & Alice Rinzivillo & Rachele Mariani & Cinzia Di Monte, 2024. "Cognitive and Relational Processes Associated to Mental Health in Italian High School Students during COVID-19 and Russian–Ukrainian War Outbreaks," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(4), pages 1-19, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:22:y:2025:i:3:p:328-:d:1597643. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.