长期抑郁、儿童发展与被迫流离失所者的人力资本：来自叙利亚难民的证据
Chronic depression, child development and human capital among the forcibly displaced: Evidence from Syrian refugees
Journal of Development Economics · 2026 · [{"name": "Emma Smith", "affiliation": ["Georgetown University"]}]
中文摘要
由于缺乏纵向数据，难民群体中的慢性抑郁及其代际关联在很大程度上一直难以被识别。我将三年的父母抑郁测量数据与约旦叙利亚难民儿童的社会情绪发展及上学出勤情况联系起来。第一，慢性抑郁十分普遍，超过四分之一的成年人在全部三轮调查中都很可能处于抑郁状态。第二，父母可能抑郁的慢性化程度与儿童社会情绪发展异常风险的上升密切相关，而可能抑郁与社会情绪发展异常均与更低的上学出勤相关。研究结果表明，照护者行为与家庭紧张关系可能是一种潜在机制。在一个具有广泛代表性的难民样本中，慢性抑郁似乎普遍存在，并与紧迫的儿童发展和人力资本需求相关。
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.