Who Counts As Support?: Community Scope, Social Capital, and Stress Coping Among Somali Refugee Youth in Urban Kenya

Background and Purpose: For refugee youth in urban displacement contexts, community is not simply a social location but a crucial determinant of psychosocial well-being. Somali youth in Nairobi face chronic stressors including economic hardship, family separation, and systemic exclusion. Coping strategies such as religious practice and peer support are well recognized, but less is known about how youth define and access "community" in the absence of formal care systems. This study explores how perceived scope of community, bonding and bridging social capital, and help-seeking behaviors shape the mental health support landscape for Somali refugee youth.

Methods: A mixed-methods study was conducted with 189 Somali refugee youth (ages 15–25) residing in Eastleigh, Nairobi. Participants completed a culturally adapted, semi-structured survey in Somali or English. Quantitative measures included the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), indicators of emotional and religious coping, trust in bonding and bridging networks, and perceived community violence. Perceived scope of community was operationalized using a multi-category framework ranging from family-only to multi-ethnic neighborhood inclusion. A multiple regression model was used to predict perceived social support. Open-ended responses were thematically analyzed to enrich interpretation of coping strategies and community definitions.

Results: Youth reported diverse distress sources, most commonly family separation (16.9 percent), economic hardship (15.9 %), and displacement-related insecurity such as police harassment (13.2 %). Religious coping (59.5 %) and self-regulation strategies (60.5 %) were predominant, with avoidance-based coping also present (15.8 %). While help-seeking was common (56.4 %), it overwhelmingly favored informal support networks. Only 12.1 percent reported turning to formal services. The strongest predictor of perceived support was perceived scope of community (β = 0.417, p = .001), with broader definitions correlating with higher support. Trust in bonding social capital (β = 0.343, p = .012) and perceived community violence (β = 0.346, p = .003) were also significant predictors. Notably, youth exposed to shared adversity appeared to experience greater communal cohesion. In contrast, help-seeking intention was negatively associated with perceived support (β = –0.206, p = .049), suggesting that youth who feel unsupported by informal networks may be more likely to seek formal assistance.

Conclusions and Implications: This study demonstrates that how displaced youth define the boundaries of their community has a meaningful impact on their access to psychosocial support. Somali refugee youth who identified broader, more inclusive communities reported significantly higher levels of perceived support, highlighting the protective value of expanded social connectedness in contexts of adversity. The positive association between perceived community violence and support suggests that shared hardship may foster cohesion and reinforce informal care networks. These findings point to the importance of interventions that strengthen bonding ties, encourage inclusive conceptions of community, and integrate informal support with culturally responsive mental health services. Embedding care within trusted settings, such as peer networks, community organizations, and religious spaces, can help bridge service gaps and promote more sustainable, community-driven approaches to mental health for displaced youth.