Asian American Journal of Psychology © 2010 American Psychological Association

2010, Vol. 1, No. 3, 163–174 1948-1985/10/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0020922

After Every Darkness Is Light:

Resilient Afghan Women Coping With Violence and Immigration
Elena A. Welsh and Anne E. Brodsky
University of Maryland, Baltimore County

This qualitative research study examines the experiences and strategies that eight Afghan
women engaged in to support the mental health of themselves and others, while facing
significant war-related trauma in Afghanistan and the process of immigration and resettle-
ment in the United States. The coping processes identified represent diverse and often
culturally grounded methods of facing hardship. The participants endorsed relatively low
levels of current mental health difficulties, suggesting that the coping mechanisms the
women engaged in may be effective. The study also illustrates the culturally grounded
nature and equifinality of resilience, as no two women engaged in all the same coping
processes.

Keywords: Afghanistan, coping, resilience, immigration, war exposure

Afghanistan has been wrought with war and
civil unrest for many decades. The last peaceful
era in the country ended with the fall of Zahir
Shah in 1973. The periods of the Soviet occupa-
tion (1979 –1989), civil war (1992–1996), and era
of control by the Taliban (1996 –2001), a radical
fundamentalist Islamic movement, have all
been marked by civilian causalities, horrific hu-
man rights violations, and a mass exodus of
Afghan refugees (Brodsky, 2003; Ewans,
2002). Today, the central government has little
control over insurgent activity, powerful war-
lords rule by their own law in many regions of
the country, and the Taliban and other insurgent
groups continue to threaten the populace (CIA,
2009). Widespread poverty and violence in Af-
ghanistan continues to be a pressing local and
international concern (CIA, 2009). Afghan cul-
ture and traditions differ somewhat by region,
but generally promote collective-wellbeing, a
sense of honor, and dedication to religious prac-
tices and beliefs. Unfortunately, some cultural
ideals, often related to familial honor, become
discriminatory against women in practice, such
as forced and child marriages, violence in the
home, and a failure to protect legal and human
Elena A. Welsh and Anne E. Brodsky, Department of
Psychology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Correspondence concerning this article should be ad-
dressed to Elena A. Welsh, UMBC, Department of Psychol-
ogy, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250. E-mail:
elenaw1@umbc.edu
163
rights. Women are at higher risk of psycholog-
ical distress in this context. Widows who have
lost their husband to the conflicts are particu-
larly vulnerable, because of traditional and con-
flict related restrictions of women’s access to
resources such as education, employment, and
health care. Thus women and families without
the sanction and protection of a close male
relative have a heightened risk of physical and
mental illness (Miller et al., 2006).
The first nationally representative mental
health survey conducted in Afghanistan re-
vealed that 62% of 699 Afghan respondents had
experienced multiple (i.e., 4⫹) war-related trau-
mas in the past 10 years (Lopes Cardozo et al.,
2004, 2005). This research suggests that the
majority of Afghan women who have immi-
grated to the United States in the past few
decades would have been exposed to war-
related violence in Afghanistan.
The association between exposure to war-
related violence and both acute and chronic
posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been
consistently documented (Basoglu et al., 2005;
deJong, 2002; Miller et al., 2002; Slone &
Shechner, 2009). Subsequent war-related refu-
gee displacement is also associated with a host
of negative mental health outcomes (Miller et
al., 2002).
In order to examine the salience and preva-
lence of daily stressors and their relation to
mental health in Afghanistan, Miller, Omidian,
Rasmussen, Yaqubi, and Daudzai (2008) con-
ducted another study in Kabul with 160 female
164 WELSH AND BRODSKY
and 160 male participants. The results indicated
that for women, daily stressors were a better
predictor of overall mental health (with the ex-
ception of posttraumatic symptoms) than war-
related experiences were. For men, daily stres-
sors were more predictive of depression and
functional impairment than war-related experi-
ences were. Further, in conditions of low daily
stressors, the daily hassles moderated the rela-
tionship between war-related experiences and
PTSD (Miller et al., 2008).
The effects of conflict related trauma has been
examined in a variety of samples. For example,
Basoglu et al. (2005) conducted a cross-sectional
survey with 1358 survivors of the war in former
Yugoslavia and found that 22% (292) and 33%
(451) of the sample met criteria for current and
lifetime PTSD and 10% (129) met criteria for
current major depression. In their study, fear,
safety threats, and loss of control appeared to be
the most important mediating factors in the devel-
opment of PTSD and depression.
In addition to documenting the deleterious
mental health effects of premigration exposure to
violence, a growing body of literature documents
the detrimental effects of displacement related
stressors on the mental health of refugees and
internally displaced persons (Englund, 1998;
Miller et al., 2002; Omidian, 1996; Porter, &
Haslam, 2005). A meta-analysis of research on
refugee mental health (n ⫽ 56 studies) found
that postdisplacement factors moderated mental
health outcomes (Porter, & Haslam, 2005). Spe-
cifically restricted economic opportunity, inter-
nal displacement, and unresolved conflict in
country of origin were associated with worse
outcomes. It is important, however, to question
the relevance of DSM diagnoses in this popu-
lation. There are clearly significant limitations
to this approach, such as inattention to indige-
nous idioms of distress, and failing to consider
the numerous strengths in this group (Miller &
Rasco, 2004). However, western conceptualiza-
tions of diagnoses can at least provide a proxy
for reflecting the fact that refugees are clearly
affected by their experiences and the ongoing
hardship in their country of origin.
Not all refugees show evidence of acute or
chronic mental health difficulties such as de-
pression or PTSD, and even among those who
do, many are able to function exceptionally well
despite internal distress (Miller & Rasco, 2004).
The process of successful adaptation, despite
risk and adversity, is at the core of the various
definitions of resilience (e.g., Masten, 1994).
Spontaneous prevention, as seen in pathways to
resilience, which occur without intervention
(Brodsky, 1999), have critical implications for
the development of prevention, intervention, as-
sessment and treatment methods, which incor-
porate indigenous mechanisms, yet these are
consistently underdocumented in the empirical
literature on effects of trauma.
Much of the contemporary research on stress
and coping is based upon the transactional
model of stress and coping (Lazarus & Folk-
man, 1984). According to this model, coping
represents the best responses to an individual’s
appraisal of a stressful situation. While using
more coping mechanisms does not imply
greater well-being, coping mechanisms have
been found to be a necessary (although not
sufficient) component of resilient adaptation to
trauma and loss (Bonanno, 2004). In studies of
war-related trauma and displacement, multiple
avenues to resilience, many nested within cul-
tural grounding, have been found. For example,
research with a nationally representative Israeli
sample (n ⫽ 512) following terrorist attacks
found that the most prevalent coping mecha-
nisms were searching for information about
loved ones and giving and receiving social sup-
port (Bleich, Gelkopf, & Solomon, 2003). In
another study with 338 Oromo and Somali ref-
ugee youth, the most frequently endorsed cop-
ing mechanisms were praying, sleeping, read-
ing, and talking to friends (Halcon et al., 2004).
Clearly, the nature of social support that is
sought is strongly influenced by cultural con-
text. For example, Kim, Sherman, and Taylor
(2008) found that unlike European Americans,
Asians, and Asian Americans are more likely to
utilize and benefit from social support that does
not involve explicit discussion of stressful events.
Although there is a growing literature on the
factors and pathways leading to resilient mental
health functioning despite exposure to war-
related traumatic life events, additional research
is needed to fully capture the range of psycho-
logical and situational factors that influence the
response to traumatic stress.
Research Questions
Based on the available theory and empirical
evidence, as well as the limitations and gaps in
 COPING EXPERIENCES OF AFGHAN WOMEN 165

the existing literature, the present study ex- Table 1

plores the following questions: Descriptive Statistics of Demographic Variables
1) What experiences of war and displacement Variable M SD Range
and what types of traumas have been endured
Age 43 15.5 20–73
by Afghan women who have immigrated to the Age at initial immigration/
United States? displacement 21.63 14.1 8–53
2) What psychological mediators, such as Age at arrival in U.S 27.63 16.9 8–66
coping skills, and situational mediators, such as Year of arrival in U.S. 1981–2001
community resources and cultural traditions, af- Participants
fect transient stress reactions and support adap- Variable (n ⫽ 8)
tive mental health outcomes for Afghan women
Education
in this context? None 1
High School 1
Method College and beyond 6
Marital status
Participants Single 2
Married 6
Number of children
Qualitative, individual, semistructured inter- 0 2
views were conducted with eight participants, 1–2 4
who were selected through purposeful and 3⫹ 2
snowball sampling with the aid of key infor-
mants. In purposeful sampling (also referred to
as purposive or judgment sampling) the partic- of living in neighboring Pakistan, in refugee
ipants are chosen because of their relevance to camps or otherwise.
the research question (Bernard, 2000). In snow-
ball sampling (also referred to as chain sam- Procedure
pling) the researcher identifies a few initial sub-
jects or key informants and each respondent is Before beginning each interview, written in-
then asked to identify potential additional par- formed consent for interviewing and taping was
ticipants (Bernard, 2000). Snowball sampling is obtained from each participant. The semistruc-
often used with “difficult-to-find populations” tured interviews were conducted by the first
and is repeated until sufficient data is collected author, and utilized an interview guide that sug-
(Bernard, 2000). Two key informants, individ- gested the domains and areas of interest to be
uals with knowledge and membership in the covered (Weiss, 1994). Participants were asked
Afghan community, were interviewed and sug- about experiences prior to, during and after im-
gested the initial participants. One key infor- migration, and thus covered stressful content,
mant was an Afghan woman, located through a however, the majority of the interview was pur-
local nonprofit organization that sends aid to posely focused on coping responses both within
Afghanistan, and the other was an Afghan Afghanistan and throughout immigration. For
woman community member, active in the local example:
Afghan American community. As will be dis-
cussed further, due to issues of cultural mistrust a. How did you find hope and courage during
toward the research process, and the hesitancy these difficult times (elicit participants’
of Afghan women, in particular, to speak about perception of their global coping style)?
difficult and personal issues with a stranger, the b. Can you tell me the story of one of these
total number of participants remained quite particular experiences?
small (n ⫽ 8). Participant demographic infor-
mation is provided in Table 1. There is a notable 1. What did you tell yourself to make
difference between the average age at initial sense of what was going on (meaning
immigration/displacement and age at arrival in making coping)?
the United States. This reflects the significant
length of the immigration process for many of 2. How did you manage to cope with this
the participants, which often included a period (eliciting coping activities)?
166 WELSH AND BRODSKY
The interviews also incorporated the admin-
istration of the Afghan War Experiences Scale
(AWES; Miller et al., 2006), and the Afghan
Symptom Checklist (ASCL; Miller et al., 2006).
The AWES asks participants to indicate
whether they have experienced [never (1), once
(2), and more than once (3)] 17 war-related
experiences. Scores can range from 17–51, with
higher total scores reflecting greater exposure to
war-related experiences. The ASCL is a 23-item
measure of both western and indigenous mental
health symptoms, which assesses the extent to
which each symptom was experienced in the
past 2 weeks on a 5-point scale that ranges from
never to everyday. The total score ranges from
23–115, again with higher total scores reflecting
greater symptom endorsement. The interview
concluded with debriefing, and participants
were offered information regarding culturally
appropriate mental health resources.
The audiotaped interviews were transcribed
by the first author and undergraduate research
assistants and checked for accuracy. Audio
tapes were then destroyed to protect participant
confidentiality. Printed transcripts were hand-
coded by the first author using a template anal-
ysis style, in which a template/code manual is
used to organize the text content and identify
themes and categories for further analysis
(Crabtree & Miller, 1992; Bernard, 2000). Cop-
ing mechanisms and context domains that arose
from the data were added to the coding catego-
ries in an iterative fashion. Following the cod-
ing process, with assistance from NVivo soft-
ware, sections coded by the same category were
sorted in a new data file. This process is known
as local integration (Weiss, 1994). Throughout
analysis, working hypotheses were tested, not
only by confirming positive cases, but also
through searching for “breakdown” (in which
negative cases demonstrate that the hypothesis
does not or only partially accounts for the full
range of data) and “coherence” (in which cases
add elaboration to the hypothesis in order to
account for the full range of data; Agar, 1986).
In final stages of analysis, the process of inclu-
sive integration brought isolated units of anal-
ysis and meaning into a coherent framework
(Weiss, 1994). A member check, which in-
volved discussing working hypotheses with a
particularly interested participant, was con-
ducted, in addition to analytic reviews and con-
sultation with key informants, the second au-
thor, and peer researchers.
During the interview the participants’ discus-
sion of difficulties in Afghanistan and in Afghan
refugee camp and their perceptions of the im-
pact of these experiences on their mental health
and wellbeing illuminated the results of the
measures presented above. The measurement
results are presented first and are followed by
the participants’ discussion of their coping strat-
egies, which comprised the bulk of the inter-
view. The more active and problem focused
strategies are presented first, such as problem-
focused coping, helping others, and seeking so-
cial support, and this is followed by the more
cognitive processes, such as maintaining hope,
gratitude, finding solace in religion, and engag-
ing in meaning making coping. Because the
interviews were analyzed in order to identify
superordinate themes (inclusive integration;
Weiss, 1994), the data presented below repre-
sents the themes discussed by the majority of
the participants. However, instances where par-
ticipants’ experiences were strikingly disparate
are also highlighted in order to represent the full
range of the data.
Findings
Measure Results
War experiences: AWES. The mean
AWES score was 41.13 (SD ⫽ 4.74) and ranged
from 34 – 49. This compares to a mean of 32.31
(SD ⫽ 4.35) found by Miller and colleagues
(2008) in a study of Afghan women (n ⫽ 160)
still living in Kabul. The participants reported
experiencing between 12 and 19 different war-
related traumatic experiences (including both
items on the AWES and additional war-related
experiences). These included having their
homes destroyed, experiencing the disappear-
ance and death of family members, being jailed,
being beaten, and not having access to medical
care in times of need.
Mental health: ASCL. The participants
had relatively low scores on the ASCL
(M ⫽ 41.87; SD ⫽ 14.57; ranging between 23
and 68) compared to a sample of Afghan
women still living in Kabul (n ⫽ 162; M ⫽ 86,
ranging between 22 and 110; Miller et al.,
2006). This suggests that the coping mecha-
nisms which were utilized may have been ef-
 COPING EXPERIENCES OF AFGHAN WOMEN
fective. At the same time, at least half of the
participants still experienced one or more symp-
toms at least 4 –5 days a week, suggesting that
their experiences and even the current turmoil in
Afghanistan was still affecting their mental
health and wellbeing. The most commonly re-
ported symptoms were “feeling sad” and
“thinking too much about what had happened,”
which was consistent with the participants’ nar-
ratives. For example, when asked how much she
still thought about the war-related experiences
she had been through, Basima1 replied, “To be
honest, almost every, every day, every day. It’s
still very fresh in my memory, still.” Tarana
talked about an intense emotional experience
she recently had when she was reminded of
loved ones who had lost their lives in the con-
flict. “I was looking in the album and I found so
many of my relatives there . . . who got killed
. . . [I] just found myself screaming. After so
many years . . .”
Interview Data
Difficulties in Afghanistan and in Afghan
refugee camps. One of the primary hardships
that participants spoke about were the losses
experienced throughout the political unrest and
violence experienced in Afghanistan. These in-
cluded the death or disappearance of family,
friends, and community members, the need to
flee, as well as the loss of roles, economic
opportunities, and normal life. Shagufa, for ex-
ample, talked about all of these losses:
. . . the hardest was the fighting and when the Taliban
came they wouldn’t let the people, the woman to work
[or] to study, so it was getting harder and from my
family seven people were killed. My two niece and my
brother-in-law, my two brothers, they were also killed.
The political violence in Afghanistan not
only resulted in immense loss, but also in a
context of constant danger and fear. Even in the
absence of direct threat or injury, the partici-
pants recalled the sense that danger and death
could come at any moment. Talking about life
in Taliban Afghanistan, Shagufa said, “. . . we
managed, but it was really hardship. All the
night we are just sitting like that and thinking,
‘they’re coming now, they’re coming now,
they’re coming now’ . . .”
Further, the war, political unrest, and result-
ing poverty, often served to exacerbate cultural
167
practices that were already oppressive for Af-
ghan women, such as restriction to basic re-
sources and infastructures, most notably, em-
ployment, education, and health care. The tra-
ditional notions that women should not work
outside the home and the lack of security, made
it even more difficult for Afghan woman and
their families to survive after a spouse died or
disappeared. For instance, Sema discussed the
threats she received while working and trying to
support her family:
. . . we [were] living in Quetta, Pakistan, the Taliban
supporter is getting bad over there. If the woman
working, they hate the woman, . . . They warned me
two times, I was waiting at the bus station . . . to go to
work, and they warned me, if you go again to work.
They think if a woman working- they are bad, they are
prostitutes.
The perceived effect of the current conflict
in Afghanistan on mental health. In addi-
tion to discussing how their war-related experi-
ences affect their current mental health, the par-
ticipants also expressed distress in response to
the current political conflict in Afghanistan. For
example, Basima began to cry as she said the
following, “. . . watching the news, seeing peo-
ple back home, it is stressful. Sometimes it’s
really hard to describe [how] I felt when I see
Afghan people over the TV, it’s hard. Probably
you see tear on my cheek, but it’s hard. It’s
hard, and I wish I could go . . .” Despite the
overall resilience of the participants, they were
still profoundly affected by the difficulties and
unrest in their country of origin.
Coping Strategies
Problem-focused/active coping. As pre-
viously described, problem-focused coping pro-
cesses are aimed at directly altering a source of
stress. Within Afghanistan, the participants en-
gaged in a variety of problem-focused/active
coping behaviors in response to the context of
threat and insecurity they were facing. Many of
these coping processes were related to security
issues. For example, when asked what she did to
protect her safety, Faria replied, “Stay home,
lock the doors. Not share your opinion with
anyone.”
1
All names are pseudonyms in order to protect partici-
pant confidentiality.
168 WELSH AND BRODSKY
A few participants described actively taking
on a new role in order to cope with loss, or with
the overall political situation in Afghanistan.
For example, Sema talked about the roles she
began to fulfill for her family, after losing male
members:
. . . over there, . . . the father should take care, or the
brother, or the husband. So for me I was saying I am
the husband, I am the brother, I am the father, it’s me.
My mother, my sister in-law, they are always like
housewife, house woman. So it was me that got to get
a education and I had to access work, to know the
social, so it was me. That courage that I am the man, I
am the person, so I have to do something, so it always
give me courage to struggle.
In the context of the participants’ lives,
leaving Afghanistan was a form of active or
problem-focused coping, because the decision
to leave was always made in direct response
to a real or perceived threat or other stressor.
For example, Faria decided she needed to
leave when the Taliban directly threatened
her, “I had an underground school for kids
and that’s when the Taliban . . . . when they
found out they came . . . they threatened me
saying that they would burn me inside the
school with the kids, so I left . . .”
In response to the violence and insecurity in
Afghanistan, leaving the country became a
problem-focused coping mechanism for the par-
ticipants, but not one taken entirely voluntarily
nor without additional threat and stress. Most
described how they were forced to leave the
country suddenly and in a clandestine fashion.
Therefore, leaving their home and country is
simultaneously a coping mechanism, as well as
a source of novel stressors that participants now
had to cope with. Basima talked about not being
able to say goodbye to many of her family
members, due to her clandestine flight, “The
way we did escape, nobody supposed to know
. . . we didn’t say goodbye to anybody. We left
everything there . . . everything, we just shut the
door and left.”
Participants often discussed feeling guilty
about escaping to safety, while other Afghans
remained in danger. Tarana, who was and re-
mains involved in political activism in Afghan-
istan, describes these feelings:
. . . it was hurting me that I left. For awhile, I thought
that I left the country in the chaos and I just got myself
out of there and went to a safer place . . . that bothered
me very much. Every time I heard somebody was dead,
every time I heard of somebody got killed, it made me
feel guilty about me being safe.
Helping others. Helping others can be
conceptualized as a form of active or problem-
focused coping. However, because the partici-
pants in the present study frequently discussed
helping others as a distinct coping strategy, it is
presented as such here. Some participants fo-
cused on helping close family members. For
example, Amida talked about how she helped
after her sister lost her husband:
I helped my immediate family, my sister . . . . [S]he
still doesn’t call herself a widow, because she never
saw her husband being killed . . . [But] she was left
with three children. I just became father figure for
them. I helped my sister with income, we rented a
place, and I worked and I went to school and provided
income for them . . .
Others worked to help Afghan women and
girls more generally. Three of the participants
ran underground literacy classes at some point.
Faria expressed that one of the ways that run-
ning class helped her state of mind was by
giving her something to do, “That helped me a
lot because for years . . . we were just home,
doing nothing. . . .” Whatever books we had
we just read them over and over and that’s all
we could . . . . that helped me a lot.” Hafeeza
said, “I feel meaning, a purpose once I’m
helping people.”
Even after they were settled in the United
States, each of the participants either continued
to help family in Afghanistan or other Afghans
remaining in the country, or expressed the de-
sire to help. Participants expressed that helping
family and other Afghans who remained in the
country, somewhat relieved their feelings of
guilt and distress about leaving their homeland
and people in chaos. Naseera spoke about how
her father encouraged her and her siblings to
continue with their educations in order to have
more skills with which to return to Afghanistan
and improve the situation there. Shagufa talked
about trying to help family members who still
live in Afghanistan:
. . . my sister is in Afghanistan, she is a widow, she had
lost her husband, her two sons and she’s worse [off]
than I, so I tried to be helpful for her . . . I am trying to
gather even $5 or $10. I want to send it for my [sister’s]
children. So I still try to help and send money.
Tarana told of returning to Afghanistan many
years after she initially left and being so devas-
 COPING EXPERIENCES OF AFGHAN WOMEN
tated by what she saw that it motivated her to
dedicate her life to helping the people, and
particularly the women of Afghanistan. As she
explains, below, she returns to the country many
times each year to do this work:
When I went to Afghanistan for the first time after 23
years, I was just so sad, crying, and anger, and every-
thing else. Finally I said to myself, you came here to
change, to help people . . . . And that’s when I devoted
my life to this. I was doing this work all my life, but
when I saw the rubble, the destruction, the tragedy, and
the misery, that’s when I said, this is what I do . . .
[Now] I go to Afghanistan 2, 3 times a year and I work
on women’s rights. I build schools and help women
with their education and empowerment of women.
Social support. Because family is a cen-
tral social network in Afghan culture, it was not
surprising that most participants described re-
ceiving emotional social support primarily from
family members. For example, Amida talked
about the reciprocal coping that occurred within
her family, “. . . being a very tight family . . . if
one person is not in good shape, the other per-
son starts to become strong. I think that’s one
thing that gave us the ability to cope and go on.”
Naseera spoke at length about the importance of
the support she received from her family:
You really need the ones that love you and care for
you and who wants the best for you and that’s your
family . . . No matter how much of conflict we went
through, how much of hardship we went through, it
is family that brings us together, we are like you
know what, thank goodness we’re alive, we’re here
right now.
Some difficult aspects of social support were
also raised. For example Sema discussed that
talking about negative, war-related experiences
often resulted in sadness, “. . . sometimes we
talked to each other. It helped, it relieved some
stress, but it always made us cry. It was always
a sad thing to talk about.” Basima explained that
the context of the fighting and devastation in
Afghanistan may hinder seeking social support
outside the immediate family because everyone
is consumed with their own struggles:
. . . because everybody had the same problems, so if
you talk to that person, it does not make you feel better
because, that person has the same problem. So once
you start your problems, he will start his problem, so
two problems will make it worse . . .
At times, participants reported finding a
resource in perceiving a sense of community
(McMillan & Chavis, 1986) within Afghan
169
refugee camps and with Afghans in general.
For example, Shaugufa expressed receiving
comfort from the knowledge that she was not
alone in her struggles, “I realize that many
people go through, I am not the [only] one.
Many people through all this condition, this
hardship. I am one of those people. It helps
me to find peace that I am not alone.”
Maintaining hope. Maintaining hope was
a form of perception-focused coping that the
participants frequently engaged in, despite the
devastating loss and trauma they all faced.
Many of the participants’ described their hope
as a constant, regardless of their changing cir-
cumstances. Faria expressed that God provided
hope for her, and that hope remains even in the
worst situations:
Well . . . you know you always have hopes. Even if
you’re in the worst situation you’re hoping for bet-
ter . . . . religious- you talk to God in your heart - that
gives you hope. You always have hope . . .
Hafeeza explained that her dream of return-
ing to Afghanistan helped her maintain a sense
of hope, but also led to disappointment as the
situation in her country continued to worsen,
“. . . it was giving me hope. But the more I was
stuck with that kind of forward dream, the more
disappointed I get with how the situation was
getting worse and there was more fighting in
Afghanistan, but that hope lived with me.”
Focus on future. Another form of coping
that participants discussed was shifting their focus
away from the present difficulties and toward the
future. Naseera explains this process:
. . . we were talking a lot about what’s gonna happen to
our relatives? What’s gonna happen to Afghanistan? Is
this forever? So we were talking about it and then we
were like you know what, let’s put that aside and lets
think about the future.
When asked how she made herself feel better
during difficult times, Basima replied, “Think
about the future, think about good things . . .”
Faria described how focusing on future oppor-
tunities helped her to cope with leaving her
country:
It was hard to leave . . . . to leave people behind, leave
your country that you love, everything you know. But,
but for me, I wanted me to be free, to have the life that
I wanted. So there was the hope that help me deal with
that situation, because I wanted to have a better life, I
wanted to be something, I wanted to be Faria I didn’t
want to be somebody’s daughter only or somebody’s
sister only.
170 WELSH AND BRODSKY
The Afghan proverb in the manuscript title,
“after every darkness is light” also reflects this
process of focusing on future light during dif-
ficult times.
Expressing gratitude. Amid immense
hardship and loss, the participants still ex-
pressed a striking amount of gratitude. Many
participants talked about feeling a sense of grat-
itude for their own lives, as well as for the lives
of their family members. As Basima explained,
“To be with your family after all those attack,
the bombing, and everything, and you will see,
everybody’s alive, that’s the best thing, that is
the best thing . . .”
Gratitude was often cultivated when the par-
ticipants engaged in downward social compar-
ison (Wills, 1981) which is the process wherein
one compares oneself to someone who is worse
off, thus determining that things could be worse.
Downward social comparison has also been
found in other studies of resilient urban women
and refugees (Brodsky, 1999; Schweitzer,
Greenslade, & Kagee, 2007). Many participants
discussed maintaining gratitude through engag-
ing in this process. Amida described how she
reminds herself of the many Afghan families
who remain in the conflict, in order to recognize
how grateful she is, “. . . if things came down
too bad, I would say, okay we are in that situ-
ation, we went through immigration, we lost
family members, but we are so much better off
then these Afghan families.”
Determination. The participants often
portrayed an attitude of determination when dis-
cussing the many challenges they had faced in
Afghanistan and throughout their immigration
process. Tarana expressed that after so much
hardship, she feels even more determined than
ever to change the situation in Afghanistan, “I
am probably more determined than ever . . . It
does not hurt me as much as it used to . . . after
a while you just want to do something about it.”
Sema talked about her determination to con-
tinue to struggle and overcome bitterness, “The
hope that if I try, I can find a way, if I struggle.
Many people, many women like me so why I
should just cry and accept the situation. [I was]
just trying to struggle against the bitterness and
I did it.”
Religion. Involvement in religious activi-
ties and a faith in God were also factors that
appeared to help many of the participants cope
with their difficult experiences. Instances of re-
ligious coping arose spontaneously, as the in-
terview template did not explicitly address reli-
gious involvement or coping. Given the mean-
ing of religion in Afghanistan and the
abundance of religious fundamentalism, ques-
tions regarding religious beliefs were excluded
in efforts to not insult participants, or otherwise
bias the results. The majority of the participants
were Muslim (n ⫽ 7) at the time of the inter-
view, however one participant did not adhere to
Islam, and another described herself as ques-
tioning her religious affiliation. For Shagufa,
religion seemed to provide a perceived connec-
tion with and support from God, as well as
social support from the religious community,
“. . . another key thing [that helped], [was] to go
to mosque. There was a lot of people and also
we can release, we cry over there, relieve our
stress . . . when you go the church, you are in
God’s house so he can help us.” Many partici-
pants talked about praying during difficult
times, and gaining a sense of controllability and
hope. For example, Naseera talked about her
Mother’s prayers giving her the sense that ev-
erything would be all right:
. . . we did a morning prayer before we left [Afghani-
stan], it was early in the morning and I remember my
mom, she was just making hard prayers, she was just
asking God . . . she was crying, she was like please
God let us get through this, and you know, I knew that
everything would be fine.
Meaning-making coping. Meaning-focused
coping strategies represent another common cop-
ing method (Folkman & Moskowitz, 2004). Spe-
cifically, meaning-making coping is thought to
involve making causal attributions and search-
ing for meaning in adversity (Folkman & Mos-
kowitz, 2004). Brinton Lykes (1996) has writ-
ten about meaning making within contexts of
ongoing war, and suggested that the destruction
of individual lives and cultural symbols chal-
lenges all meaning making, and thus meaning-
making essentially becomes a search for mean-
ing from meaninglessness. This was reflected in
many of the participants’ discussions of their
search for meaning. Many of the women ex-
pressed that when they reflected on the meaning
within the situation in Afghanistan, they were
often unable to reach any satisfactory conclu-
sions. For example, Amida expressed uncer-
tainty about the meaning of so many lives lost.
 COPING EXPERIENCES OF AFGHAN WOMEN
I see all these people, they are so naı̈ve, they are
freedom fighters, they fight for freedom, for equality
. . . Maybe all I have to do as an individual is do the
right thing? these good, good lives that they got lost in
Afghanistan, what came out of it? In Afghanistan,
nothing good really happened.
Some participants expressed that they were
able to learn valuable lessons from the conflict,
despite their predominately negative interpreta-
tions of the situation. Basima explained that all
the greed she has witnessed, led her to strive to
always consider others:
Q: What have you learned from these experiences?
A: Always think about other people, never be greedy
Basically, right now as we are speaking, greed is
ruining our country. Because people are thinking about
themselves, nobody else.
Discussion
Despite the many struggles the participants
faced in Afghanistan and throughout the pro-
cess of immigration, each discussed a variety of
coping mechanisms they engaged in, in order to
deal with their situations. The coping processes
identified represent diverse and often culturally
grounded methods of facing hardship. The rel-
atively low levels of current mental health dif-
ficulties endorsed by the participants suggest
that they are resilient and that coping mecha-
nisms may have had some role in this positive
outcome. It also likely reflects the fact that the
participants are no longer living in a war zone.
This research also provides qualitative docu-
mentation of the extensive violence and war-
related trauma that Afghan civilians and refu-
gees have experienced.
The importance of social support as a coping
process and resource, as described by the par-
ticipants in the present study, is largely consis-
tent with findings from coping research with
other refugee and war-exposed populations
(e.g., Halcon et al., 2004; Miller et al., 2002).
Implicit social support, which is defined as the
emotional comfort one can receive from close
others without disclosing or discussing specific
stressors, has been found to be more frequent
and helpful for individuals from collectivistic
cultures (Kim et al., 2008). This aspect of social
support was discussed by the participants, and
may be even more common than suggested in
their narratives since explicit instances of re-
ceiving social support are often easier to de-
171
scribe. Relational concerns (e.g., worry that dis-
cussion of a stressor would cause distress for
others), which is the most significant factor in
the cultural differences in seeking support (Kim
et al., 2008), was also described by the partici-
pants in the presents study. For example,
Hafeeza explained that she often kept her frus-
trations to herself for the benefit of others:
. . . sometimes I felt very frustrated, I felt very vulner-
able . . . I don’t have opportunity, I don’t have the
power, because of culture, because of displacement,
because of being refugee, being a woman, I feel dis-
appointed but I never showed that because, I believe, if
I show my disappointment how will that be for others.
So I struggle inside myself . . .
The participants’ ability to maintain positive
emotions (e.g., hope and gratitude), despite fac-
ing threats and stressors, was likely a factor in
their resilient adaptation. There is a robust re-
lationship between positive emotions and psy-
chological resilience (Tugade, Fredrickson, &
Feldman Barrett, 2004). The broaden-and-build
theory of positive emotions (Fredrickson, 2001)
provides a helpful framework for understanding
the relationship between positive emotions and
resilience. The theory posits that positive emo-
tions broaden one’s attention, thinking, and be-
havioral repertoire, whereas negative emotions
tend to narrow attention and support a limited
behavioral repertoire.
It became clear that the participants’ current
mental health and stressors were affected not
only by the war-related trauma they had expe-
rienced firsthand, but also by the ongoing con-
flict in Afghanistan. This is consistent with a
recent meta-analytic study of refugee research
in which ongoing conflict in the individual’s
country of origin was a significant predictor of
negative mental health outcomes (Porter, &
Haslam, 2005). The participants expressed feel-
ing a lot of responsibility for and distress about
the situation in Afghanistan and the Afghans
who remain in the chaos and conflict there.
Their distress illustrates how individual level
wellbeing can be significantly impacted by dis-
ruptions and changes in even distal ecological
levels and systems, which is consistent with the
logic of other social ecological models (e.g.,
Bronfenbrenner, 1979). Their distress also high-
lights the far-reaching impact of national and
international defense and humanitarian policies
regarding Afghanistan, and the importance of
second order change (Dalton, Elias, & Wan-
172 WELSH AND BRODSKY
dersman, 2006) which aims to make structural
and system-wide changes. Finally, the findings
suggest that the humanitarian efforts of Afghans
outside of Afghanistan may be a crucial aspect
of their emotional recovery, and therefore
should be supported materially and otherwise.
There are several limitations to the present
study. First, it relies exclusively on self-report
data, and the sample size is quite small. Al-
though, qualitative methods intend to provide
rich description of a purposefully chosen sam-
ple, and these eight unique and meaningful per-
spectives provide vital data in a field where little
is known of Afghan women immigrant’s lives.
Results, however, need follow up. Additionally,
the use of snowball sampling compromised
confidentiality in some instances. When a par-
ticipant suggested another interviewee, they
clearly had knowledge of the individuals’ par-
ticipation in the study. Further, the key infor-
mants were influential in the participants who
were ultimately interviewed, and thus using
other key informants may have resulted in dif-
ferent interviews and conclusions. The research
is also focused largely on past experiences,
which tend to be less accurately described com-
pared to present states. Finally, the information
gathered was likely influenced by the cultural
difference between the researchers and partici-
pants, aspects of which may be both advanta-
geous and disadvantageous. Qualitative re-
search is cognizant of the fact that research is
shaped by both researcher and participants.
Therefore, any researchers are both a strength
and limitation in any study. To evaluate these
findings it is important to note that, in general
we strive to conduct research that is both par-
ticipatory and applied in nature, with a focus on
humanitarian concerns and pressing social is-
sues. We also appreciate the aspects of qualita-
tive methodology that serves to give voice to the
voiceless. Both authors are American born
women, who do not share a cultural or religious
background with the participants, but who are
familiar with Afghan culture and communities.
Because the interview was conducted by a non-
Afghan researcher some information may have
been more readily shared, such as reservations
about cultural practices or Islam. However,
other participants may have been more comfort-
able speaking with an Afghan interviewer and
differences in worldview may impact the inter-
pretation of findings. Additionally, some schol-
ars have written generally about the inadequacy
of language in describing traumatic experi-
ences, and moreover, describing such experi-
ences and emotions in a second language may
further complicate full expression (Dalanberg,
2000).
Broadly, the present study contributes to the
body of literature that supports the development
of effective and culturally relevant prevention,
intervention, assessment and treatment proto-
cols for refugees and other individuals who
have experienced war-related trauma. It is also
important to understand the unique experiences
of Afghan refugees and individuals who have
fled to safety, and yet remain impacted by the
ongoing global crisis. However, instances of
spontaneous prevention, individual differences
in coping strategies and the multiple pathways
to resilience illustrated by the participant narra-
tives in the present study, suggests that pro-
grams and preventive efforts will need to be
tailored to individual need and cultural context.
In general, research about trauma, coping,
and resilience in marginalized populations is
scarce and needs further development. Ideally,
future research with participants who have ex-
perienced trauma will continue to explore
mechanisms of resilience and growth, in addi-
tion to negative psychological outcomes. Lon-
gitudinal studies following the adaptation of
refugees and other war-exposed populations
would aid our understanding of these develop-
mental trajectories. Future studies might benefit
from utilizing comparison groups, in order to
control for relevant variables, such as degree of
trauma, immigration status (i.e., refugee vs. asy-
lum-seeker), various primary coping processes,
particular resources and stressors, and precon-
flict levels of education and/or socioeconomic
status. Finally, more work needs to be done in
terms of developing culturally acceptable inter-
vention approaches to improve trauma symp-
toms, coping skills, and quality of life for refu-
gee populations.
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Received January 12, 2010
Revision received June 22, 2010
Accepted July 6, 2010 䡲

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