Anxiety levels amongst refugees and returnees

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the impact of war stress on some aspects of anxiety in refugees and returnees. The subjects were refugees from Eastern Slavonia (N=80) and returnees from the Dalmatian hinterland (N=80), whereas the citizens of the city of Split (N=81), who have been indirectly exposed to the war events, served as the control group. The subjects were given Endler's Multidimensional Anxiety Scales (EMAS-S and EMAS-T) that are designed to measure the state anxiety and the trait anxiety in usual, everyday situations and in situations of social evaluation. In addition, two scales were administered that were constructed for assessment of the perception of threatening aspects of war and of the exposure to war related stress (Gregov et al., 1995). The results showed that the anxiety level was higher in the returnees than the refugees, while the control group had the lowest degree of both state and the trait anxiety. This finding is in accordance with the hypothesis that the stress experienced during the refugee period and in the new situation of the return would have cumulative effects which could be manifested in short-term consequences (increased level of state anxiety and perceived threat of some war aspects) and in longterm consequences (increased level of trait anxiety).