The Journal of nervous and mental disease
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J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. · Sep 2003
Personality related to coping and social support among Iranian refugees in Sweden.
The aim of this study was to investigate the interrelatedness between temperament and character according to Cloninger's biosocial theory of personality, coping behavior, and social support among traumatized refugees. Personality, psychopathological disturbances, coping resources, and social support were assessed in 100 Iranian refugees resettled in Sweden who had been exposed to various extreme traumatic life events in Iran before their escape. ⋯ Concerning coping resources and social support, these subjects scored slightly higher and the traumatized refugees with high Beck Depression Inventory scores scored slightly lower compared with nontraumatized subjects. Resilient refugees are characterized by low harm avoidance, high self-directedness, and high cooperativeness scores which enables them to develop effective coping strategies to obtain sufficient social support and thus to become more resistant against severe trauma.