Trauma Exposures, Resilience Factors, and Mental Health Outcomes in Persons Granted Asylum in the U.S. for Claims Related to Domestic Violence and Persecution by Organized Gangs

Survivors of domestic violence (DV) and of violence perpetrated by organized gangs (GV) face barriers to legal protection under U.S. asylum law. We abstracted data from 132 affidavits based on forensic medical evaluations of asylum seekers granted legal protection in the U.S. on the basis of DV and/or GV. We described claimants’ trauma exposures and resilience factors and used multiple logistic regression to quantify associations with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-5 (DSM-5) diagnoses and improvement in mental health. People seeking asylum based on DV and/or GV have endured multiple types of trauma with significant impacts on their mental health. New experiences of trauma following migration to the U.S. were common and associated with DSM-5 diagnoses. Conversely, resilience factors were associated with improved mental health. Policies that aim to reduce ongoing trauma in the U.S. and to bolster resilience factors may promote asylee mental health and well-being.