Poster #151 - Parental Monitoring and Child Adjustment Following Exposure to Kenyan Post-Election Violence

• In Event: 2-002 - Special Poster Session 05 with Continental Breakfast Reception
  In Poster Session: PS 05 - International Section

Integrative Statement

The damaging effects of violence exposure on child development include emotional and behavioral difficulties, such as increased internalizing and externalizing behavior (Lambert et al., 2012). Parental monitoring has been proposed as a protective parenting strategy and has also been associated with reduced violence exposure (Merrilees et al., 2011) as well as decreases in externalizing and internalizing behavior (Bacchini et al., 2011). Yet, there is little work differentiating between community violence exposure and political violence exposure on parenting and child development, particularly in understudied cultural contexts, such as Sub-Saharan Africa. Following the 2007-2008 election in Kenya, the country erupted into mass protests and ethnic violence, and children’s exposure to political violence was related to externalizing behavior in the following year (Skinner et al., 2013). Given this evidence, there is a need to better understand the role of violence on parenting practices and child development in order to further inform interventions and support for families. Thus, the goal of the present study was to explore the influence of political violence exposure and parental monitoring on child adjustment in Kisumu, Kenya.
In the current study, mothers of 100 Luo children (Mage=8.46 years, 60 female) reported on their political violence exposure and their child’s political violence exposure following Kenya’s post-election violence (PEV) of 2007-2008. PEV exposure was assessed using the Community Exposure Questionnaire (Skinner et al., 2013). Mothers reported on their child’s behavior using the Child Behavior Checklist at Time 1, and four years later at Time 2. Also at Time 2, the 100 children (Mage=12.46 years) reported on the Parental Monitoring Scale (Conger et al., 1994).
Results showed a positive correlation between child PEV exposure and externalizing behaviors at Time 1 (r(93)= .216, p = .035). A regression analysis revealed a main effect of maternal PEV at Time 1 on child externalizing symptoms at Time 2 (β=.349, t=3.167, p =.002) and a significant three-way interaction between maternal PEV at Time 1, parental monitoring at Time 2, and child gender on child externalizing symptoms at Time 2 (β=5.132, t=2.022, p =.047). For males, simple slopes analyses showed that high maternal PEV was positively associated with both externalizing outcomes (β=5.997, t=2.716, p = .011) and internalizing outcomes (β=5.041, t=2.152, p= .040) when parental monitoring was low. For females, there was a main effect of maternal PEV on externalizing outcomes (β=.407, t=2.899, p=.006), but no other significant main or interactive effects. There were no main effects or interactions for internalizing outcomes for females.
In sum, these results demonstrate a connection between maternal exposure to political violence and cascading effects on parenting and children’s behavior over time, particularly for males. Gender differences indicate significant risk for males in the context of high maternal trauma exposure and low parental monitoring. The findings call for future research in East Africa on the role of maternal trauma exposure on parenting approaches and may inform future intervention programs to support families and improve child outcomes following political violence exposure.

Authors

• Meghan Colpas, University of Massachusetts Amherst
  Presenting Author

• Jennifer M. McDermott, University of Massachusetts Amherst
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kirby Deater-Deckard, University Massachusetts
  Non-Presenting Author

• Paul Oburu, Maseno University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ann T. Skinner, Duke University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jennifer Lansford, Duke University
  Non-Presenting Author