Coping with Perceived Sources of Discrimination: a Survey on Refugee Children in Malaysia

Refugee children in Malaysia face different sources of discrimination daily. This can affect their mental health if appropriate strategies are not designed to help them with the discrimination. This study used a cross-sectional survey to understand the frequent discrimination as perceived among refugee children in Malaysia, their frequently used strategies to cope with it, and the associations between perceived discrimination and coping strategies. The purposive sampling method was used to recruit 91 refugee children to answer a questionnaire with assistance from their refugee teachers. Results showed that perceived discrimination happens in the health and education sectors, from local Malaysians as well other fellow Myanmarese, local authorities and members of the Malaysian Volunteer Corps Department (RELA). Coping strategies that are frequently used include problem coping, self -acceptance as fate and emotional coping. In addition, refugee children have low coping resources to cope with different sources of discrimination and thus increase their vulnerability. Accordingly, it is recommended that more programs should be conducted to create awareness among the public to understand the sources of discrimination as perceived by refugee children in Malaysia, and provide training to improve the refugee children's resilience to cope with it.