Facilitating the prosocial development of Rohingya refugee children

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Social Psychology

Background:

• Prosocial development in children is crucial for societal success.
• It is enhanced by collaboration and emotion perspective-taking.
• Conversely, psychosocial trauma and adversity negatively impact prosocial development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of collaboration and emotion perspective-taking interventions on prosocial behaviors (helping, sharing, comforting) in Rohingya children.
• To compare prosocial responding between children born in Myanmar and those born in a refugee settlement in India.
• To provide a within-culture comparison using Rohingya Canadian children.

Main Methods:

• The study involved 122 Rohingya children (ages 4-11) in an Indian refugee settlement, divided into Collaboration, Emotion Perspective Taking (intervention), and Drawing (control) groups.
• A small sample of 20 Rohingya Canadian children (ages 3-12) were included for comparison.
• Prosocial behaviors were assessed post-intervention.

Main Results:

• Prosocial responding was highest following the Collaboration intervention for children born in the refugee settlement.
• Emotion Perspective Taking intervention led to the highest prosocial responding for children born in Myanmar.
• Rohingya Canadian children exhibited higher overall prosocial responding compared to those in the refugee settlement.

Conclusions:

• Intervention programs in refugee contexts can benefit children's prosocial development.
• The effectiveness of interventions is dependent on children's lived experiences, with different approaches (collaboration vs. emotion perspective taking) being more beneficial for distinct groups.
• Findings highlight the importance of culturally and experientially responsive interventions for refugee children.