The Relationship Between Maternal and Child PTSS in IPV-Exposed Families

• In Event: 2-146 - Maternal Behaviors and Parenting After Children’s Trauma Exposure: Identifying Factors Promoting Children’s Adaptive Development

Integrative Statement

Background: Millions of children witness intimate partner violence (IPV) every year, and this exposure puts them at elevated risk for developing posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). The concept of relational PTSD purports that higher levels of parental PTSS lead to higher levels of child PTSS and lower levels of parental PTSS lead to lower levels of child PTSS. However, it is not clear from current research whether or not there is always this direct relationship between caregiver and child traumatic stress symptoms, or if it is possible for one member of the dyad to experience high levels of symptoms while the other experiences low levels of symptoms. Current research is also limited in that it has primarily only studied this relationship in very young children (e.g., infancy and preschool-age). Thus, the goal of this study is to document profiles of PTSS in mother-child dyads in the context of IPV-exposure and to examine how the relationship between maternal and child PTSS varies as a function of child age.

Methods: Two-hundred thirty-one mother-child dyads participated in this study. Children were between the ages of 4-12, with an average age of 6.49 years (SD = 2.42). Mothers were an average of 33.18 years old (SD = 7.36). The sample was primarily low-income, with average family monthly income of $996 (SD = $1,129) and was ethno-racially diverse, with 79% of the sample identifying as an ethno-racial minority (e.g., Latino/a, African American, Multiracial).

Results: There were significant, positive correlations between parent and child total PTSS (r = .42, p < .001). This was true for both younger and older and children in the sample, though the relationship between maternal and child PTSS was stronger for the younger children (r = .52, p < .001), than the older children (r = .29, p < .05). Results of a latent profile analysis indicated that the best-fitting model was that with two latent profiles (BIC =1,080.95, Lo-Mendell-Rubin LRT = 316.93, p < .01). In the first profile, both mothers and children had fairly high levels of PTSS, while in the second profile, both mothers and children had low-to-moderate symptoms of PTSS. In a post-hoc logistic regression predicting to profile membership, positive parenting, but not negative parenting, significant predicted membership in the high PTSS profile, after controlling for maternal age as well as child age and gender.

Conclusions: Interestingly, the results of this study suggest that significant relationships between maternal and child PTSS persist past the preschool age into the middle and older childhood, and that relational presentations of PTSS are typical, at least in the context of IPV. This implies that there may be pathways toward relational resilience, where resilience in one family member can promote resilience in the other. However, further research is needed to understand the mechanism by which relational outcomes emerge in IPV-exposed dyads, with positive parenting behaviors being one potential factor of interest.

Authors

• Maria M Galano, University of Maryland, College Park
  Presenting Author

• Andrew Grogan-Kaylor, University of Michigan
  Non-Presenting Author

• Hannah Clark, University of Michigan
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sara Stein, University of Michigan
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sandra Graham-Bermann, University of Michigan
  Non-Presenting Author