“My Heart Feels Chained”: Experiences of Economic Precarity Among Syrian Refugee Parents Living in Lebanon

Background and Purpose: Since the start of the conflict in March 2011, over half of Syria’s population has been displaced both inside Syria and in neighboring countries such as Lebanon. Lebanon, is currently hosting approximately 1.5 million Syrian refugees. Within this context, Syrian families face high rates of poverty, burdensome governmental policies and regulations, a lack of affordable housing, food insecurity, decreased attendance in school, and family violence and harmful cultural practices. Exacerbated by the war and displacement, these vulnerabilities have a destabilizing effect on parents, who are struggling to meet their individual and families’ needs in a low-resource and inhospitable environment. This presentation aims at understanding how parents experience daily economic challenges that can significantly affect their ability to adequately care for their children. Their experiences of economic precarity provide another means to better understand everyday parenthood in contexts of adversity such as war.

Methods: This presentation draws upon data from a larger research project exploring the experiences of Syrian families living in Lebanon. Data were collected using collaborative family interviews with 19 parents within six families (n=50) displaced by the war and living in Lebanon. Data were analyzed through careful reading and collation of transcripts to ascertain meaning and significance that participants attributed to their experiences. Transcripts were coded and concepts were generated and categorized into themes. Findings were divided between parenting in Syria and parenting in Lebanon. The latter topic was further categorized into the specific challenges that parents identified: trying to protect children, losing control as a parent, disciplining children, and experiencing financial challenges. This presentation explores the final theme of parents’ financial challenges.

Results: The data revealed that parents’ feelings of parental adequacy were tied up in their ability to provide for their children. Several parents mentioned that their inability to provide for their children was a violation of their children’s rights, which they therefore could not ensure. Their stress related to money was exacerbated by unexpected medical issues that children faced and that families were not able to afford. Parents described these experiences as emotionally painful, conjuring feelings of frustration, hopelessness, and ultimately stress, exemplified in the comment from one father that “My heart feels chained”. Parents’ feelings of frustration, hopelessness, and stress contributed to an ongoing cycle of poverty for families. In other words, increased stress upon family members manifested in negative health consequences or family members not being able to work, thereby pushing families further into economic precarity. Finally, the data revealed that economic precarity contributes to parental restriction of children’s mobility outside the home, which may have long-term impacts on child development.

Conclusions and Implications: The findings from this study point to ways we can better understand the intersection between parenting and economic precarity in the context of war and displacement. The data indicate that the best way to support parents is through economic interventions such as cash transfers and food vouchers to address family vulnerability.