Social stress and refugee mental health: investigating the role of interpersonal emotion regulation.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Refugees experience a myriad of stressors, with social stressors having particularly adverse effects on mental health. This study examined interpersonal emotion regulation (ER), whereby individuals draw on social support to regulate their own emotions, as a potential mechanism underlying this effect. DESIGN: A sample of 561 refugees in Australia completed a survey assessing exposure to potentially traumatic events (PTEs), social and practical post-migration stressors, interpersonal ER, and posttraumatic stress, depression, and anger symptoms. METHODS: A confirmatory factor analysis validated a three-factor structure of the Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (Enhancing Positive Affect, Soothing, and Social Perspective Taking). Structural equation modeling tested direct associations between PTE exposure, social and practical stressors and latent mental health factors, and indirect associations between PTE exposure and stressors, and mental health factors, through the three latent interpersonal ER factors. RESULTS: Higher social stress was associated with elevated depression through reduced engagement of all interpersonal ER strategies. Additionally, greater trauma was associated with decreased depression through increased use of all interpersonal ER strategies. CONCLUSIONS: By reducing engagement of interpersonal ER, social stressors may be particularly harmful for refugee mental health and may be an important target mechanism to enhance coping in refugees.