Mental health of refugee children: comparative study.

In 2002, over 110 000 people entered Britain to seek asylum—a 250% increase in five years. Children, who comprise at least a quarter of asylum seekers, are exposed to numerous risk factors for psychological disturbance, including exposure to violence, forced displacement, and multiple losses. 2 The rates of mental health problems in refugee children are uncertain, but the few studies that have been done suggest that refugee children incur significant morbidity. We examined the rates of psychological disturbance in a sample of UK children who were refugees and compared them with a group of children who were from an ethnic minority but were not refugees and a group of indigenous white children.