Unaccompanied Refugee Youth in Switzerland and the 'Refugee Crisis': The Emergence of the Child Asylum Seeker

In this paper I will reflect on the emergence of the distinct figure of the child asylum seeker which has entered public and political debates in Switzerland within the last 2 years. It is a figure that is identified through certain attributes such as youth, trauma, lostness or need for protection, and it is a figure that is imbued with certain rights (namely children’s rights). While this has helped young people to receive special treatment, the question arises what the repercussions are for those who do not fit within these categories. What, for example, happens, when different notions of youth, childhood and adolescence clash and disrupt ideals of innocence and childhood? And given that negative public discourses are largely focussed on the apparent danger and uncontrollability of male, single asylum seekers, what happens when categories mix and mingle? In this paper I will shed light on the interplay of institutional expectations of what constitutes a 'proper' child refugee and the ways young people themselves play with, test and contest these norms.

New Myths of OZ: The Australian Beach and the Negotiation of National Belonging by Refugee Background Youth

In this article we consider the Australian beach as a material, imaginary and social arena in which different versions of national belonging are performed and contested. Focusing on two short films produced by young people from refugee backgrounds, we explore the negotiation of national belonging on the beach by people who occupy identity categories that are typically excluded from idealising Australian beach mythologies. We argue that both the production and distribution of these films contribute to a reimagining of the Australian beach that creates new opportunities for people from migrant backgrounds to engage in the co-production of Australian identities in their own terms.

Money is not enough: exploring the impact of social and cultural resources on youth health

Findings on socioeconomic health differentials in youth remain fragmented with the role of cumulative and interaction effects of different forms of health resources not well understood.

Palestinian Refugee Camps: from Shelter to Habitat

Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA and their housing conditions are officially characterized by a “ temporary status” , a situation which has lasted the past sixty years. This article explores this time-paradox by focusing on the host governments’ and UNRWA’s policies affecting the refugees’ housing conditions. After having reviewed available literature, this contribution analyses the current housing situation. Drawing on data from a recent survey, the authors provide insights on areas where intervention is needed. In all UNRWA’s fields of operation, overcrowding, lack of public spaces, humidity and structural defects are the main sources of housing discomfort that camp refugees endure. Host countries’ restrictions as well as the incapacity or unwillingness of larger urban municipalities to incorporate refugee camps in their master plans are among the main obstacles to the refugees’ housing development. Rehabilitation and self-help re-housing programs may offer substantial incentives for housing improvement. The success of such programs depends, among several factors, on the host governments’ good will to provide UNRWA with authorizations, financial support, and land, as well as on the capacity of involving the refugee communities in projects’ planning and implementation.

Eating disorders in youth: diagnostic variability and predictive validity

The primary aim was to examine the utility of DSM-IV criteria in predicting treatment outcome in a sample of adolescents with eating disorders.

The Schizophrenia Proneness Instrument, Child and Youth version (SPI-CY): Practicability and discriminative validity

Background Basic symptom (BS) criteria have been suggested to complement ultra-high risk (UHR) criteria in the early detection of psychosis in adults and in children and adolescents. To account for potential developmental particularities and a different clustering of BS in children and adolescents, the Schizophrenia Proneness Instrument, Child and Youth version (SPI-CY) was developed. Aims The SPI-CY was evaluated for its practicability and discriminative validity. Method The SPI-CY was administered to 3 groups of children and adolescents (mean age 16; range=8–18; 61% male): 23 at-risk patients meeting UHR and/or BS criteria (AtRisk), 22 clinical controls (CC), and 19 children and adolescents from the general population (GPS) matched to AtRisk in age, gender, and education. We expected AtRisk to score highest on the SPI-CY, and GPS lowest. Results The groups differed significantly on all 4 SPI-CY subscales. Pairwise post-hoc comparisons confirmed our expectations for all subscales and, at least on a descriptive level, most items. Pairwise subscale differences indicated at least moderate group effects (r≥0.37) which were largest for Adynamia (0.52≤r≥0.70). Adynamia also performed excellent to outstanding in ROC analyses (0.813≤AUC≥0.981). Conclusion The SPI-CY could be a helpful tool for detecting and assessing BS in the psychosis spectrum in children and adolescents, by whom it was well received. Furthermore, its subscales possess good discriminative validity. However, these results require validation in a larger sample, and the psychosis-predictive ability of the subscales in different age groups, especially the role of Adynamia, will have to be explored in longitudinal studies.

Income Insecurity and Youth Emancipation: A Theoretical Approach

n this paper, we propose a theoretical model to study the effect of income insecurity of parents and offspring on the child's residential choice. Parents are partially altruistic toward their children and will provide financial help to an independent child when her income is low relative to the parents'. We find that children of more altruistic parents are more likely to become independent. However, first-order stochastic dominance (FOSD) shifts in the distribution of the child's future income (or her parents') have ambiguous effects on the child's residential choice. Parental altruism is the very source of ambiguity in the results. If parents are selfish or the joint income distribution of parents and child places no mass on the region where transfers are provided, a FOSD shift in the distribution of the child's (parents') future income will reduce (raise) the child's current income threshold for independence.