Objectives: To examine the impact of displacement experiences on 0- to 6-year-old children’s social-emotional and cognitive development, as well as influencing factors on reported outcomes. Study design: We systematically searched MEDline, Psyndex, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Elsevier, TandF, Oxford Journal of Refugee Studies, Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, and Canada’s Journal on Refugees for existing literature regarding social-emotional and cognitive outcomes in children directly exposed to forced displacement due to political violence. Results were synthesized in the discussion and displayed using harvest plots. Results: Our search generated 9,791 articles of which 32 were selected for review and evaluation according to NICE criteria. Included studies provided results for 6,878 forcibly displaced children. Measured outcomes were diverse and included areas such as peer relations, prosocial behavior, family functioning, play, intelligence, learning performance, and language development. Repeated exposure to adverse experiences, separation from parents, parental distress, as well as duration and quality of resettlement in the host country were reported as influencing factors in the reviewed studies. Conclusion: As protective factors like secure and stable living conditions help to promote children’s development, we call for policies that enhance participation in the welcoming society for refugee families. Early integration with low-threshold access to health and educational facilities can help to mitigate the wide-ranging negative consequences of forced displacement on young children’s development.

To evaluate a standardized play observation as a measure of young children’s mental health and development in a clinical and refugee population. We conducted individual play observations with 70 refugee children aged 3- to 6-years and compared them to a clinical group of 111 age-matched children regarding their level of play development, social interaction during play, traumatic re-enactments, and emotionless-cold play. Additionally, we assessed children’s mental health, social-emotional development and markers of adversity by parent and educator report as well as their IQ-test scores and learning performance and related these factors to the play variables. Play variables were significantly correlated with IQ-test scores (r = 0.184, p = 0.037), learning performance (r = 0.208, p = 0.010) and vocabulary (r = 0.208, p = 0.021) in the comparison group and with social-emotional development in educator report (r = 0.368, p = 0.011), time spent in Germany (r = 0.342, p < 0.001) and parental distress (r = − 0.292, p = 0.034) in the refugee group. Children with more parent-reported adverse experiences showed less social-interactive play in the overall sample (r = − 0.178, p = 0.011). Our child-centered approach to standardized play observation augments information obtained from parent and educator reports and can provide valuable insights in subgroups where other commonly used tests are not available or applicable.

As IQ tests are commonly used as key assessment method, we address the question whether our commonly used standardized IQ tests are appropriate for children from families of diverse cultures and different educational levels in a refugee population. We examined 109 refugee children aged 3–7 years (M = 5.10 years, SD = 1.25) with the “Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children “ (KABC-II; Kaufmann & Kaufmann, 2015) on a language-free scale (Scale of Intellectual Functioning, SIF) and learning performance (subtest Atlantis). With a non-verbal IQ of 81.5 (SD = 18.01), the population mean of the refugee children is more than one standard deviation lower than the mean of the German norm population. Standardized scores follow the normal distribution and are not correlated to any of the assessed markers of adversity (flight duration, time spent in Germany, child PTSD in parent rating, parental symptom load, and parental education level).Conclusion: The interpretation of IQ test results for refugee children should be done cautiously as results may underestimate their cognitive capacity. Environmental factors, such as high illiteracy among parents in this study, the lack of institutional education of children and high lifetime stress, may explain our findings.Trial registration: DRKS00021150. What is Known:• There is a high pervasiveness for the use of standardized IQ tests in the German health and education system to determine eligibility for special education and social services. What is New:• Refugee children score significantly lower than German children in a language-free IQ test. As results are normally distributed and not correlated to any of the assessed markers of adversity, the low scores in the refugee group might be due to missing formal education.

Background: Our goal was to accurately detect young children at risk for long-term psychiatric disturbances after potentially traumatic experiences in the course of relocation. In addition to detailed assessment of parent-rated parent and child symptomatology, we focused on disruptive behaviors in the education environment summarized as survival states, as these frequently lead to clinical referral. Methods: We screened 52 refugee children aged 3–7 (M = 5.14 years, SD = 1.17) for symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) with the Child and Adolescent Trauma Screening (CATS) in parent rating. The parents’ mental health was assessed using the Refugee Health Screener (RHS-15). Furthermore, the child’s educators were asked to evaluate the pathological survival states of the child and we made a general assessment of the children’s symptoms with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) rated by parents and educators. Children in the refugee sample completed a working memory learning task (Subtest Atlantis from the Kaufmann Assessment Battery for Children, KABC-II) and delivered saliva samples for testing of the cortisol level. Results: The parental rating of their child’s PTSD symptoms was significantly related to their own mental well-being (r = .50, p < .001). Children with survival states in educator ratings exhibited weaker learning performance (F = 3.49, p < .05) and higher evening cortisol levels (U = 113, z = − 1.7, p < .05, one-tailed). Conclusions: Survival states are promising indicators for children’s learning performance and distress level complementary to parent rating of child PTSD, which is highly intercorrelated with the parents’ own symptom load. Trial registration: Trial registration number: DRKS00021150 on DRKS Date of registration: 04.08.2020 retrospectively registered

The omnipresence of mobile screens and convenience to operate them has led to increased screen time for young children whereas the sequelae of prolonged exposure are not known yet. 70 refugee children (RG) and 111 children of a clinical comparison group (CG) from a help-seeking population (age: M = 5.10; SD = 1.11; range 3.00–6.97 years) were assessed concerning their amount of daily screen exposure time in relation to parental education and distress. Salivary cortisol was collected as a marker for biological stress and children were tested concerning learning performance, non-verbal IQ and vocabulary with the Kaufmann Assessment Battery for Children (KABC-II). Language skills were assessed in educator rating. The amount of children’s screen exposure was negatively related to parental education and positively to distress. In the CG, higher amounts of screen time were associated with elevated cortisol levels and lower learning scores. On both measures, the RG and CG only differed in the condition of screen time less than one hour/day, for higher amounts of screen time the CG approached the more problematic scores of the RG. Whereas in the whole sample the amount of screen time was negatively correlated to language performance, it was not correlated to non-verbal IQ-scores. As a higher amount of media exposure in our clinical comparison group is associated with elevated biological stress, decreased learning and lower language performance, it should be classified as a relevant environmental factor and regularly considered in clinical assessments of children and therapeutical interventions, especially in vulnerable subgroups. German clinical trials register, registration number: DRKS00025734, date: 07–23-2021.