On the other hand, several studies have found that an internal locus of control or family support protect against depression in NKRYs and have been reported to be able to help them adapt to living in a new society. In terms of external factors, low levels of emotional or practical social support contribute to depression in NKRYs. It has been shown to exacerbate the effects of early trauma on depressive symptoms. Expressive suppression is one of the emotional regulation strategies in which one intentionally suppresses emotionally expressive behavior while experiencing emotional stimulation. Furthermore, low levels of life satisfaction and low expectations of the future were also found to be factors related to depression in NKRYs. Particularly, resilience is one’s capacity for adapting successfully in spite of adversity or overwhelming circumstances, and its importance as a protective factor for depression was highlighted in a South Australian study with refugee youths. Low resilience and low self-esteem are known to be factors that maintain depression. High levels of depression have been reported in NKRYs who perceive their daily stress to be high. Interventions for NKRYs at risk of depression are necessary and should include ways to enhance resilience and life satisfaction, and foster ego strength by recognizing emotions and promoting healthy emotional expression.ĭepression, along with posttraumatic stress disorder, has been used as an indicator of the mental health of these groups, and is commonly experienced by immigrants and refugees. On the other hand, external factors were not significantly related to changes over time in depression of NKRYs.

Resilience and life satisfaction were significant factors reducing depression in this study. Specifically, expressive suppression of emotions was shown to increase depression over time. In addition, we conducted a panel regression analysis, which showed that individual internal factors had a statistically significant effect on changes in depression.

The trend of depression symptoms significantly increased, and the proportion of people classified as depressed (cut-off score = 21) increased steadily from 45.3% to 59.4% in the third year. We collected intrapersonal factors (emotional regulation strategies, resilience, quality of life) and external factors (psychological and practical support, family adaptation, and cohesion) to understand the preventative and risk factors affecting changes in depression. This study identified factors affecting changes in depression of 64 North Korean refugee youths (NKRYs) aged 13 to 23 years (40 female) using follow-up data over a three-year period.

Hausman fixed random stata 14.0