Associations between childhood violence and mental health in refugee settings in Uganda

Background: Childhood violence and mental health remain concerning public health issues globally yet there is limited evidence on the associations between experiences of such violence and mental health in refugee settings. Objective: To assess the association between experiences of childhood violence (sexual, physical, and emotional violence) and mental health (severe mental distress, self-harm, suicidal ideation and/or attempted suicide) in refugee settings in Uganda. Data and methods: Data are from the 2022 Uganda Humanitarian Violence against Children and Youth Survey (HVACS) conducted among 1338 females and 927 males aged 13–24 years between March and April 2022. Cross-tabulation with chi-square tests and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to assess the association between experiencing childhood violence and mental health. Results: The results show a high prevalence of experiencing childhood violence (females 40.8% vs males 55.2%) and mental distress (45% for both males and females). Females who experienced childhood sexual violence had significantly higher odds of reporting severe mental distress (aOR = 1.989; CI = 1.216–3.255), suicidal ideation and/or attempted suicide (aOR = 4.119; CI = 2.157–7.864) and self-harm (aOR = 3.734; CI = 1.619–8.609) compared to those who did not experience such violence. Experiencing childhood physical or emotional violence was also significantly associated with increased odds of reporting suicidal ideation and/or attempts and self-harm among females. Among males, childhood emotional violence was significantly associated with increased odds of reporting suicidal ideation and/or attempts (aOR = 9.233; CI = 2.293–37.177) or severe mental distress (aOR = 2.823; CI = 1.115–7.148). Conclusion: Childhood exposure to violence was associated with poor mental health, with a higher risk observed among females. The findings of this paper provide critical insights to facilitate the development or strengthening of violence prevention and response interventions on violence against children in refugee settings.