The Role of Emotional Security, Narrative, and Resilience for Youth and Families in Contexts of Armed Conflict

• Author: Christine E. Merrilees,Yeasle Lee
• Date: 01 April 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12338
• Published date: 01 April 2018

THE ROLE OF EMOTIONAL SECURITY, NARRATIVE,

AND RESILIENCE FOR YOUTH AND FAMILIES IN CONTEXTS

OF ARMED CONFLICT

Christine E. Merrilees and Yeasle Lee

The far-reaching devastation created by contemporary armed conflict puts children and families at risk. The goal of this article

is to describe current research on the effects of armed conflict and political violence on families and youth with a focus on the

roles of emotional insecurity and narratives of conflict that can persist long after the end of conflict. We describe how identity

processes that are at the heart of many intergroup conflicts of the 20th and 21st centuries are linked with emotional insecurity

and the historical and personal narratives of youth in these contexts. We conclude with general considerations for legal,

medical, and mental health practitioners working with families who have experienced armed conflict.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:

Understanding the effects of political violence on youth and families begins with recognizing the role of the history

and culture of the conflict and families who have experienced it.

Exposure to political violence negatively affects youths’ sense of emotional security at multiple levels. The sense of

security in familial relationships and the community are particularly important in these contexts.

Youth actively engage in making meaning of their conflict experiences; they are not just passive recipients of violence.

When possible, this engagement and meaning making should be incorporated into programming for youth.

Support and programming for youth and families who have experienced political violence should cut across service

providers (e.g., basic needs and mental health).

Keywords: Armed Conflict; Emotional Insecurity; Intergroup Conflict; Narrative; Resilience; and Youth.

Armed conflict in the 21st century has impacted the lives of millions of families, destroying the

social fabric of communities, and, in many cases, forcing families to leave their homes and their

ways of life in hopes of finding safety and a promising future. Families who have experienced armed

conflict face overwhelming stressors across domains of life, many of which will persist well past the

escape from or formal end of conflict. Compared to the conditions of civilians in the interstate con-

flicts that dominated the first half of the 20th century, the trauma and fear that define contemporary

forms of war are heightened for civilians who are now more likely to be both victims and coerced or

forced to partake in the violence (Pederson, 2002). Understanding the emerging theoretical and

empirical findings on the effects of political violence on children and families provides important les-

sons for practitioners and legal professionals working with families from these communities.

The goal of this article is to review and evaluate the recent research findings regarding youth in

contexts of political violence and armed conflict with a focus on the interaction between family and

community functioning and youth development. Given the devastating nature of war, much of the

research on youth in war-torn communities has focused on mental health outcomes such as post-

traumatic stress disorder (“PTSD”), associated with exposure to political violence and armed conflict

(Barber & Schluterman, 2009). It is only recently that a broader approach has been taken that exam-

ines other youth outcomes, such as intergroup attitudes, prosocial behaviors, civic engagement, and

the processes, risk, and protective factors that explain these outcomes (Cummings, Merrilees, Taylor,

& Mondi, 2017a). In what follows, we briefly describe the nature of contemporary armed conflict

and the range of experiences families and youth find in these contexts. We then focus the review on

Corresponding: merrilees@geneseo.edu; yeaslelee@gmail.com

FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Vol. 56 No. 2, April 2018 248–257

V

C2018 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts