ESPIRE: The measurement and predictors of Environmental Sensitivity in Syrian refugee children

叙利亚内战严重损害了受影响个人的心理健康，尤其是难民儿童。据估计，45%的难民儿童患有创伤后应激障碍，44%的难民儿童表现出抑郁症状。然而，并不是所有遭受战争和被迫流离失所创伤经历的儿童都会患上精神疾病。环境敏感性(ES)元框架提出，儿童的敏感性水平不同，使他们或多或少容易受到环境经验的影响。低敏感度儿童对环境逆境的抵抗力很强，但从心理社会支持中获益也较少。与此同时，高敏感儿童在经历了逆境后很容易患上精神疾病，但他们从环境中的保护性因素中获得的好处不成比例。ES的个体差异是遗传、生理和环境因素的产物，但这些因素尚未在具有中东遗传背景的难民群体中进行探索。与黎巴嫩、意大利和德国的同事合作，经验丰富的研究员安德鲁·梅博士的目标是利用先前存在的心理、生理和基因数据，研究叙利亚难民儿童敏感度的横断面和纵向预测因素。在来自黎巴嫩的大约1500名叙利亚难民儿童的样本中，急诊室将对高度敏感的儿童量表的反应进行心理测量分析。这些反应将与与压力敏感性相关的激素水平以及全基因组基因分型数据相关联。多基因评分将被评估为准确推断中东难民儿童敏感度的工具。急诊室随后将探索这些敏感性水平如何调节儿童的心理健康和幸福结果，以适应创伤和有益的经历。预期研究结果将为今后难民儿童的照料做法提供参考。

The Syrian civil war has exacted a heavy toll on the mental health of affected individuals, especially refugee children. Estimates suggest that 45% of refugee children present with post-traumatic stress disorder, and 44% exhibit symptoms of depression. However, not all children exposed to the traumatic experiences of war and forced displacement develop mental illness. The Environmental Sensitivity (ES) metaframework proposes that children differ in their level of sensitivity, rendering them more or less susceptible to their environmental experiences. Low sensitivity children are robust against contextual adversity, but also benefit less from psychosocial support. Meanwhile, high sensitivity children are vulnerable to mental illness following experiences of adversity, but benefit disproportionately from protective factors in their environment. Individual differences in ES are the product of genetic, physiological and environmental factors, but these factors have yet to be explored in refugee populations of a Middle Eastern genetic background. In collaboration with colleagues in Lebanon, Italy, and Germany, the Experienced Researcher, Dr Andrew May, aims to investigate cross-sectional and longitudinal predictors of sensitivity in Syrian refugee children using pre-existing psychological, physiological and genetic data. In a sample of approximately 1500 Syrian refugee children from Lebanon, the ER will psychometrically analyse responses from the Highly Sensitive Child Scale. These responses will be correlated with hormone levels associated with stress sensitivity, as well as genome-wide genotyping data. Polygenic scores will be assessed as a tool for accurately inferring sensitivity in Middle Eastern refugee children. The ER will then explore how these sensitivity levels moderate children's mental health and well- being outcomes to both traumatic and beneficial experiences. Study results are anticipated to inform future care practices for refugee children.