Mental health among children seeking asylum in Denmark – the effect of length of stay and number of relocations: a cross-sectional study

Table 1 Background characteristics of the study population

		Number	%	Average
Total number		246	-
Sex	Girl	104	42
	Boy	142	58
Age	4–10-year-olds	139	56	9.6 years
	11–16 year-olds	107	44
Nationality	Former Yugoslavia*	118	48
	Iraq	67	27
	All other countries**	61	25
Family size	1–3 members	32	13	4.7 members
	4–8 members	214	87
Number of parents	Single parent	44	18
	Both parents	202	82
School	Centre school	175	71
	Community school	23	9
	Nursery	48	20
Length of stay	1–12 months	35	14	48.4 months
	13–91 months	211	86
Number of relocations	0–3 number of relocations	47	19	5.6 relocations
	4–13 number of relocations	199	81
Administrative phase of asylum application***	Phase 1 and 2	91	37
	Phase 3	154	63

* Albania (4), Bosnia-Herzegovina (10), Yugoslavia (18), Kosovo (66), Macedonia (9), Serbia/Montenegro (10), Slovenia (1).
**Afghanistan (1), Armenia (5), Azerbajdjan (1), Iran (11), Kazakhstan (1), Libya (1), Lithuania (1), Pakistan (2), Russia (8), Somalia (12), Sri Lanka (1), The state of Palestine (9), Stateless (5), Syria (2), Ukraine (1).
*** Phase 1: From arrival until decision is taken whether the application can be under active consideration in Denmark according to the Dublin procedure. Phase 2: From the start of the active consideration of the asylum case until a residence permit or a final refusal of residence is given. Phase 3: After a final refusal of residence and humanitarian residence permit is given. This phase also comprises cases which are en route between the authorities as well as asylum seekers who are awaiting placement to a municipality [20].

ISSN: 1471-2458