"I Defeat Those Fears and Start a new Life": Iraqi Refugee Students' PTSD, Wisdom, and Resilience

This study examines Iraqi Chaldean refugee students' posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), wisdom, and resilience. Using quantitative measures, it looks at PTSD and resilience prediction with the cognitive, reflective, and affective wisdom dimensions and, using qualitative measures, how the students perceive their traumatic experiences and how they have overcome such difficulties using wisdom and resilience. The study examines 98 Chaldean Iraqi refugee high school students in the Detroit metropolitan area. It utilizes bivariate correlations and multiple regression analysis based upon survey data as well as individual and focus group interviews. The study finds that (a) students showed low levels of PTSD because they have been relieved from a war zone and have started to dream of their future; (b) the more reflective wisdom students showed, the less likely they suffer from PTSD; and (c) the more students learned from their past traumatic experiences and from being reflective, the more likely they have become resilient. In summation, the study finds that reflective wisdom is positively related to resilience but negatively related to PTSD. Most wisdom studies have focused on adult samples, and few have focused on school populations, not to mention refugees with traumatic experiences. The study is original in that it uses mixed methods to examine a unique and underresearched population and the relationship among PTSD. resilience, and wisdom.