Title: Child soldiers returning home from war : family and caregiver impact on psychosocial reintegration /
Authors: Borisova, Ivelina Ivanova.; Harvard University.
Year: 2009
Subjects: Child soldiers Sierra Leone.; Child soldiers Rehabilitation Sierra Leone.; Children and war Sierra Leone.; Children and war Psychological aspects.
Abstract: Previous research with former child soldiers has documented varying psychosocial outcomes among this group of war-affected youth, suggesting that processes of protection and resilience are at play. However, not enough work has focused on building evidence around the active ingredients in such processes. The family presents a good opportunity for exploring protective variables that may exert a positive impact on the psychosocial adjustment of returning child soldiers. In my thesis, I used a variety of statistical methods, including Structural Equation Modeling, to explore the effects of three family-level variables on the adjustment outcomes of 286 former child combatants from Sierra Leone. Specifically, I was interested in the family placement of the child upon his/her return home, the socio-economic resources of the family with which the child was reunified, and the extent of caregiver knowledge of child experiences with violence during the war.