Chronic depression, child development and human capital among the forcibly displaced: Evidence from Syrian refugees
Abstract
A lack of longitudinal data has largely prevented the detection of chronic depression among refugees and its intergenerational associations. I link three years of parental depression measures to children’s socio-emotional development and school attendance for Syrian refugees in Jordan. First, chronic depression is common, with over a quarter of adults likely depressed in all three survey rounds. Second, the chronicity of likely parental depression is strongly associated with increasing risk of abnormal child socio-emotional development, and both likely depression and abnormal socio-emotional development are associated with lower school attendance. The results point to caregiver behavior and household tensions as a potential mechanism. Chronic depression among a broadly representative sample of refugees appears to be prevalent and related to urgent child development and human capital needs.