Unaccompanied, but not alone: A systematic review of the influence of social relationships on the transition of unaccompanied refugee adolescents to adulthood

Unaccompanied refugee adolescents often have few years to get settled in their host country before they transition to (a nominal) adulthood. This transition does not take place in a social vacuum. Between arriving and ageing out of care, pre-existing social relations are re-negotiated and new relations are formed. A systematic literature search was conducted in academic journals, focused on the influence of social relations on the transition to adulthood of unaccompanied refugee adolescents. The resulting 71 articles were qualitatively reviewed with reference to the social relations of unaccompanied adolescents, the transition challenges that they influence and the mechanism of influence. Four major challenges were identified as a result: ‘Achieving education and employment’, ‘Preparing for and living independently’, ‘Building a social network’, and ‘Developing a sense of identity and feelings of belonging’. Each of an adolescent’s social relations has their own (non-)supporting influence on these challenges, which can be complementary or contrasting with the influence of other relations. This review therefore emphasises the importance of a holistic view on an adolescent’s social network in studying and working with transition challenges.