One of the largest humanitarian crisis worldwide is the resettlement of refugees after forced migration. According to a UNHCR report more than 6.1 million Afghan refugees are resettled, with Iran and Pakistan hosting majority. Women and children make up more than half of the displaced population viewed as vulnerable. About 1.2 million refugees resettled in Pakistan are deported back in between 2023-2025 among which 3150,000 refugees were deported in 2025 alone. This reflects the disturbance of personal development, self and interpersonal functioning among refugees resettled in Pakistan. According to UNHCR (1998) displacement and forced migration are interconnected in which the former refers to the loss of habitual residence due to persecution, violence and armed conflict and latter means compulsory movement of people without voluntary consent. Both the aspect from different researches indicates that 60-70% use adaptive techniques like problem-solving and positive reframing and the rest of 30-40% use self-blame, avoidance and ruminations as maladaptive techniques and this forced migration, reintegration and displacement challenges affect a person in many ways, including their identity formation, self and interpersonal functioning (UNHCR, 2025).

Identity Formation

Identity formation is a complex process that influences how a person perceive themselves and their place in the world (Erikson, 1968; Schwartz, 2001). Erik Erikson (1968) have explored the process of identity formation through a series of developmental stages. According to him adolescence is a crucial phase during which individuals face the identity crisis as they struggle to develop a unique sense of self .Culture also plays a vital role by providing individuals with social standards and expectations, customs and beliefs that inform their self- awareness (Vignoles et al., 2021). Many factors influence the process of identity development. Some of them are discussed here.

Social Factors

Identity development is a dynamic process effected by cultural impacts and social interaction (Phinney, 1990). The process of social integration has an impact on personal development as being in the host community refugees feel connected, understood and accepted (UNHCR, 2024). Cultural and social factors significantly contribute to self-exploration as interaction with diverse worldviews and cultural practices expands one’s self-concept and fosters a deeper sense of belonging (Yang & Fatiam, 2023).

Psychological Factors

Multiple psychological factors like insecurity or struggles with self-perception can create a block in the healthy development of self-identity. Self-recognition and personal growth can be impaired due to a person facing emotional and psychological challenges such as low self-regard and traumatic past experiences (Schwartz et al., 2011). Luyckx and colleagues in a 2013 study found out that ruminative exploration is particularly associated to anxiety, impaired functioning, depression and maladaptive adjustment. These leads to poor self and interpersonal functioning. In one of the study by Murtaza et al., (2024) acculturation stress is said to trigger identity crisis among both men and women revealing confusion about sense of self with 70% participants on whole. Women often confront the need to redefine gender expectations in new cultural environment whereas men experiences traditional breadwinner roles as a challenge. Also in one of the study by Ritchie et al., (2013) worked on identity dimensions and functioning and as a result found out that ruminative exploration is linked with maladjustment, whereas commitment predicts more optimal self-functioning.

Self and interpersonal functioning

Self and interpersonal functioning are crucial aspects of psychological health and personality development. The Alternative Model of Personality Disorders (AMPD) derived from DSM-V stresses upon personality functioning. In this model, self and interpersonal functioning are two core dimensions. Self –functioning includes an individual’s capacity for personal exploration, emotional regulation, self-reflection, and independence. This affects how a person interprets their thoughts, emotions and behaviors. (American Psychiatric Association, [APA], 2013). Early life experiences, cultural context, mental health status, and the presence or absence of supportive social ties play a crucial role in shaping self and interpersonal functioning (Schmeck et al., 2013). Self and interpersonal functioning among Afghan refugees are deeply affected by the trauma of displacement and the ongoing process of adapting to unfamiliar environments. Forced migration often disrupts one’s sense of identity, leaving individuals uncertain about their cultural belonging and personal values (APA, 2013). Afghan refugees repeatedly exhibits difficulties in emotional regulation which is a core aspect of self-functioning, due to exposure to trauma including family separation, forced displacement and war-related violence. They face many difficulties as a result of impairment in emotional regulation such as somatic complaints, anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress. This in turn affect social involvement and interpersonal relationships (Silove et at., 2017). Both male and female refugees experience confusion, attributing mistrust, isolation and impaired social functioning over the social roles that are changed (Kantor et al., 2023).

Previous literature on Afghan refugees highlights how displacement has influenced their lives, in shaping their personalities and the way they respond and cope with challenges in war-effected environments. Previous research has identified that identity formation, coping mechanisms, self and interpersonal functioning are impacted by displacement. However, the existing studies often treats the topics of identity development, coping mechanism and self and interpersonal functioning as separate, which fails to capture the full picture. (Alemi et al., 2023). This segmented approach fails to capture the links between psychological processes and how they shape one another. Although both genders are influenced due to trauma and displacement with the same magnitude but still gender specific differences are often ignored despite evidence suggesting that men and women respond to trauma, adaptation, and displacement in distinct ways ( Khan et al., 2024). Afghan women face certain challenges including limited access to education, restricted mobility, and social exclusion all that significantly affect their coping mechanism and personal exploration (UN Women, 2025). Afghan refugees struggle with unresolved identity struggles due to many of them facing war and persecution (Rehman et al., 2023). These issues hinder their ability to integrate in new environments. Although studies from western contexts have offered valuable insights, they often fail to reflect cultural and social realities of Afghan refugees resettled in Pakistan (Khan et al., 2024). Given Pakistan’s role in hosting Afghan refugees for more than 40 years, it serves as an important setting for research that has both cultural nuance and local realities. This study aims to fill these gaps by looking at how identity, coping, and psychosocial functioning are connected, and how these connections differ between men and women. This study also hopes to give mental health professionals and policymakers the tools they need to create inclusive and gender-sensitive interventions that support both emotional well-being and social belonging (Alemi et al., 2023; Ahmed & Sabir, 2024).

The hypothesis of this study are as follows:

Sample

The study population consist of 3900 Afghan refugees (N= 3900) whom were affiliated with four different organizations. The included participants of both genders with age range between 18-29 (M=2.46, SD=1.12) years. The study used cluster sampling technique 20% of each organization’s sample was approximately (n=780) including 240, 40, 300 and 200 respectively.

Inclusion

Exclusion

Instrument

Demographic Sheet

First the participants were given a demographic information sheet to fill in their basic information like their name, age, gender, level of education and socioeconomic status. The most crucial aspect is participant’s age and gender for this study.

Dimensions of Identity Development Scale (DIDS)

This scale (Luyckx et al, 2008) assesses five key processes of identity development in adolescents and young adults. The scale includes 25 items in total with 5 subscales namely commitment making, identification with commitment, exploration in breadth, exploration in depth and ruminative exploration. It is a 5-point Likert scale and the score range between of 1 which means strongly disagree to 5 which means strongly agree. Moreover, high score on scale indicates active identity engagement whereas low score indicates identity confusion or dissatisfaction. The scale has good internal consistency with Cronbach’s alpha values typically ranging from .70 to .85 across subscales.

Self and Interpersonal Functioning Scale (SIFS)

The SIFS (Dminick et al., 2017) to assess criterion A of the DSM V Alternative Model for Personality Disorders. It focuses on impairments in personality functioning. The scale consists of 24 items with 4 subscales. The subscales are named identity, self-direction, empathy and intimacy. It is a 5-point Likert scale. The score of 1 means “strongly disagree” with a 5 means “strongly agree”. Moreover, high score indicates greater impairment in personality functioning whereas, the low score indicates better functioning. The reliability of the scale is (Cronbach’s alpha values for the subscale range) from .78 to .86, with the total scale showing strong internal consistency (? ? .85-.90).

Procedure

Permission to collect data was obtained from the relevant authorities before data collection. Data was collected in informal settings and participants were approached individually. The data collection for this study included both paper pencil method and online questionnaires using Google Forms. Cluster sampling technique was used for recruiting participants who mainly belonged to four different organizations: UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), SHARP (Society for Human Rights and Prisoners Aid), IMC (International Medical Corps) and HI (Handicap International) with the sample size of 240, 300, 200 and 40 from each organization respectively. Participants were approached in organization offices, camps and communities overlooked by these organizations.

The participants were briefed about the purpose of the study, ensuring they had a clear understanding of the objectives of the study. After, they were ensured that their responses would be anonymous and would be kept confidential. Moreover, they could withdraw from the study anytime they wanted. Consent was obtained via a digital acknowledgment form in case of online questionnaires. In case of paper pencil form, written consent was obtained along with the demographic sheet.

After they filled in their basic demographic information including age, gender, education and socioeconomic status, they completed the study questionnaires. Before analyzing the data, it was ensured that all the forms are appropriately filled. Inappropriately filled and incomplete forms were discarded. The selected data was then analyzed through data analysis software SPSS version 2026.

The results are in the form of tables along with interpretation of each table.

Note: Out of 390 Afghan Refugees 323 participants completed their survey.

Table 1 shows the demographics characteristics of participants like age which includes a range of 18-20, 21-23, 24-26 and 27-29 respectively.

Note: SIF= Self and Interpersonal Functioning, DID= Dimensions of Identity Development

Table no 2 shows psychometric properties of the scales used in the present study reflecting .76 Cronbach ? for self and Interpersonal Functioning Scale, Cronbach ? of .90 for Dimensions of Identity Development and This table also shows mean, standard deviation and range of the two scales respectively.

Note: constant = SIF (Self and Interpersonal Functioning), did. r.e = Dimensions of Identity Development, Ruminative exploration ***P<.001 Higher score indicates impaired self-functioning.

Table 3 shows the impact of did r.e (dimensions of identity development, ruminative exploration) on SIF (Self and Interpersonal Functioning among Afghan refugees. The R² value of .14 reveal that the predictor variable explained 14% variance in the outcome variable with F (1,321) = 52.73, p<.001. The finding reveal that high ruminative exploration will positively predict impaired self and interpersonal functioning among Afghan refugees.

Note: constant= SIF (Self and Interpersonal Functioning), did c.m = dimensions of Identity development, commitment making, did e.b= exploration in breadth, did i.c= identification with commitment, did e.d= exploration in depth.

***p<.001, **p<.01

Table 4 shows the impact of did (dimensions of identity development) on SIF (Self and Interpersonal Functioning) among Afghan refugees. The R² value of .24 reveal that predictor explained 24% variance in the outcome variable with F (4,318) =25.64, p<.001. The finding reveal that did. c.m (?=-.84, p<.001), did e.b (?=-.28, p<.001), did. i.c (?=-.07, p<.01), did. e. d (?=-.05, p<.01) predicted negative impaired SIF (Self and Interpersonal Functioning) among Afghan refugees.

Note: SIF= Self and Interpersonal Functioning, did= Dimensions of identity development

***p< .001

Table 5 shows a significant negative correlation between SIF (Self and Interpersonal Functioning Scale) and did (Dimensions of Identity development Scale).

Note: SIF= (Self and Interpersonal Functioning), did. tot (Dimensions of Identity Development),

***P<.001, P>.05

Table 6 indicates independent sample t test to assess the gender differences on SIF (Self and Interpersonal Functioning). Results reveal that male (M=44.16, SD=15.35), t (321) =-.208: p>.005 than females (M=44.47, SD=9.96), p>.005, hedges g=.02(smaller effect size). In the same way gender differences on did (dimensions of Identity Development) results reveal that male (M=18.49, SD=21.47) t (321) =1.35, p<.001 than females (M=78.53, SD=16.63), p<.001, hedges g=0.15(smaller effect size).

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the relationships among identity formation, self and interpersonal functioning among Afghan refugees. The study focused on how identity formation and self and interpersonal functioning are disrupted due to displacement and forced migration. For the purpose of this study, Afghan refugees (N=323) aged between 18-29 years were selected from four different organizations.

One objective of this study was to assess the effect of disrupted identity formation (ruminative exploration) on self and interpersonal functioning among Afghan refugees. The study found out that identity formation (ruminative exploration) will positively predict impaired self and interpersonal functioning among Afghan refugees. The findings align with existing literature. Koch (2019) examined disruption in emotion regulation among Afghan refugees exposed to trauma and revealed that deficits in emotional regulation significantly predicted anxiety, depressive symptoms and post-traumatic stress disorder. So it supports the idea that poor emotional regulation and repetitive negative thoughts are detrimental to both interpersonal and intrapersonal functioning. In the same way Kantor et al. (2023) identified that subjective functional impairment and interpersonal stressors along with psychological difficulties are the major aspects in daily life problems. Moreover, they found out that ongoing negative thought patterns and internal distress impact daily functioning.

Another objective of this present study was to examine effect of positive identity formation on self and interpersonal functioning among Afghan refugees. The results of the current study indicate that identity formation is negatively related to self and interpersonal functioning among Afghan refugees. Ghadiri in his 2024 study examined identification with commitment and commitment making and found out that they were negatively linked with behavioral problems (showing higher commitments associated with fewer problems) and positive maladaptive links were found due to ruminative exploration. A cross sectional study by Smith and colleagues in 2023 on identity statuses in emerging adults revealed that identity trajectory marked by high moratorium (exploration without commitment) and low commitment are associated with poorer psychosocial functioning (Smith et al., 2020).

The third objective of the present study was to analyze the relationship between identity formations and self and interpersonal functioning. The findings of this study indicates that there is a link between identity formations, self and interpersonal functioning among Afghan refugees. This indicates significant positive correlation between self and interpersonal functioning and identity development. The results are similar to a qualitative interview with Afghan refugees identifying culture identity among traumatized Afghan and Iraqi Refugees by Groen et al., (2017). This study examined three main domains of identity namely social, ethnic and personal identity revealing that trauma, acculturative pressures and stress experiences influenced both social functioning and self-concept. In this same study personal identity was linked to adjustment and psychological stress in the host society.

The fourth objective of the study was to analyze gender differences in identity formation, self and interpersonal functioning The findings of the present study revealed that gender was significantly linked with dimensions of identity development while no gender differences were found on the level of self and interpersonal functioning among Afghan refugee population. One of the supporting findings of Ambreen et al., (2025) on identity and belonging among Afghan women showed that because of host society norms hybrid identities are influenced despite women having strong cultural identity connections. In the same way higher acculturation stress was reported by female refugees as compared to male refugees who experienced greater identity crisis. Self-concept and interpersonal functioning are affected because the acculturation stress is positively associated thereby indicating that gender moderates stress which in turn affect both self and interpersonal functioning as well as self-concept.

Limitations of the present study are:

Based on the findings of the study and limitations of the present study, following points are recommended for future studies:

Clinical Implications

The present study has important implications for mental health professionals especially the ones who are working with individuals experiencing difficulties related to identity, self and interpersonal functioning.

The goal of the present study was to examine identity formation, self and interpersonal functioning among Afghan refugees. The sample of the study was collected from four organizations i.e. N=323 with the age range between 18-29 years.

The study revealed significant challenges in the process of identity formation which had an effect on self and interpersonal functioning. The scales used in this study are Dimensions of Identity Development (DIDS), and Self and interpersonal functioning (SIFS).

The findings of this study also showed that maladaptive dimensions (ruminative exploration) of identity formation are significantly linked with impaired self and interpersonal functioning. This further strengthen the point that within the context of trauma and displacement there are serious consequences because of prolonged identity disturbance. In relation to this, the positive (adaptive) identity dimensions like commitment making, identification with commitment, exploration in breadth and exploration in depth negatively predicted impairment in functioning among Afghan refugees.

Additionally, strong links were identified between identity formation, self and interpersonal functioning which shows healthy social functioning and personal development whereas, significant negative correlation between self and interpersonal functioning and identity development were predicted.

Furthermore, gender differences were investigated in terms of identity formation, self and interpersonal functioning. On the scale of dimensions of identity development males reported higher dysfunction compared to females which indicated statistically significant difference while no differences were found in both genders in terms of interpersonal functioning and adaptive coping mechanisms. This study contributes important insight into mental health experiences of refugees within the complicated social environments.