The Swedish Police Service’s deportations of unaccompanied, asylum-seeking refugee children: The role of coping and general mental health

The number of unaccompanied, asylum-seeking refugee children (UARC) coming to Sweden has increased 100 times during the last ten years. If children do not voluntarily return, the police are responsible for deportation. This study aims to describe police officers’ coping in the deportation of UARC and to investigate the associations between coping and general mental health in relation to the deportation of UARC among police officers by considering sociodemographic variables. Validity and reliability analyses were conducted for the use of the Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WOCQ) in the context of UARC. Mental health was assessed using the General Health Questionnaire 12 (GHQ-12). The GHQ-12 was the outcome (dependent variable), and the experience of deportations of UARC, the WOCQ and sociodemographic variables were the independent variables. A 5-factor structure with some important similarities and differences to the original version was confirmed. This study shows that the police officers utilize different coping strategies in the same complex situations during the deportation of UARC. The use of escape-avoidance and self-control increased the likelihood of psychological disturbance, whereas positive reappraisal had a protective effect. This research also demonstrates that coping *Corresponding author: Jonas Hansson, Epidemiology and Global Health, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeå University, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden; Basic Training Programme for Police Officers, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden E-mails: [email protected], [email protected] Reviewing editor: Peter Walla, University of Newcastle, Australia Additional information is available at the end of the article