Child soldiers around the world may witness or be involved in horrific violent acts, or be subject to repeated sexual abuse, but such experiences don’t necessarily mean that they can’t go on to lead normal lives, according to Theresa Betancourt of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Interviewed by Larry King on Ora TV’s “PoliticKING with Larry King” on September 4, 2015, Betancourt, director of the Research Program on Children and Global Adversity and associate professor of child health and human rights at Harvard Chan School, noted that there are roughly 250,000–300,000 boys and girls under age 18 involved in fighting forces around the world at any given time. Some of those are abducted as young as age 7. Others wind up with armed groups because they lack food, shelter, safety, or caregiving, which makes them vulnerable to exploitation.
But Betancourt stressed that the situations that former child soldiers return to—their home lives, their communities, their job prospects—play an important role in how they fare long-term, even if they have suffered psychological damage.
“We do see that some toxic stress exposures, such as being involved in injuring or killing others, or surviving multiple repeat instances of sexual violence, are associated with negative mental health and problems with anger and trust in others over the life course,” said Betancourt, who has studied former child soldiers in Sierra Leone. “But it’s also important to note that the post-conflict setting matters a great deal. It’s not just about what happened to you during your time with an armed group, but it’s also about how you’re received when you return home. We know that one of the biggest predictors of children struggling with mental health problems is from coming back to be ostracized, to experience stigma in their communities. But things such as getting back into school or having a decent degree of social support in your life, and guidance, is extremely important for young people who do well over time.”
Watch Theresa Betancourt’s interview with Larry King on “PoliticKING with Larry King”
Learn more
Treating depression, anxiety in child soldiers pays off long-term (Harvard Chan School news)
Life after death: Helping former child soldiers become whole again (Harvard Public Health magazine)