The Intergenerational Transmission of Trauma: The effect of a mother’s childhood exposure to armed conflict

• In Event: Using Quasi-Experimental Approaches to Study Child Development in Low and Middle-Income Countries

Abstract

For children at risk of early adversity, a mother’s nurturing care is a critical input to early development (Britto et al., 2016). However, little is known about how a mother’s own childhood trauma affects her ability to provide nurturing care to her children. When the mother herself has experienced trauma, she is less likely to be attuned to her child’s physical, emotional and cognitive needs (Van der Kolk, 2014, posing an additional risk to children in danger of experiencing early adversity.

In this paper, I estimate the intergenerational effects of maternal trauma on the early childhood home environment by examining one specific case: a mother’s childhood exposure to armed conflict in three countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Uganda, Burundi and Chad. My research design uses a differences-in-differences identification strategy to exploit geographic variation in conflict intensity within and across sub-national regions, and temporal variation in exposure to conflict events across birth cohorts. The use of geospatial analysis allows me to identify multiple ‘measured conflict zones’ within sub-national regions so that I can compare otherwise identical groups that were born in the same region, but have different levels of exposure to armed conflict either due to geographic differences (living inside or outside of a ‘measured conflict zone’) or due to differences in their birth year. Using this design, I test the effect of mothers exposed to armed conflict anytime during her childhood (0 to 15 years of age) and specifically during her early childhood (0-8 years of age) on her maternal engagement and disciplinary practices, and the early developmental outcomes of her children. I also examine potential mechanisms for explaining the effect of maternal childhood trauma on maternal capacities and investments such as family formation, fertility decisions, education and labor market outcomes, and re-victimization of the mother through intimate partner violence.

I find that mothers exposed to armed conflict in early childhood are more likely to use abusive disciplinary practices, and less likely to stimulate their children through educational activities, material investments, or sending them to early childhood education centers. Potential mechanisms such as increased intimate partner violence, early marriage and early sex may be pathways by which a mother’s childhood trauma affects her future maternal capacities and investments, and the early developmental outcomes of her children.

This paper contributes to three strands of literature. First, to the best of my knowledge, it is the first paper to causally identify the intergenerational effect of an acute maternal childhood trauma, such as exposure to armed conflict, on the quality of the early childhood home environment. Second, it is the first study to identify the causal effects of armed conflict on parenting practices. Finally, it contributes to the literature on the intergenerational transmission of inequality by exploring the potential pathways, including emotional investments through nurturing care, by which the intergenerational transmission of inequality persists through the mother, and the specific mechanisms by which a mother might fail to invest in her children in the aftermath of her own trauma.

Group Authors

Maya Escueta (Teachers College, Columbia University)

Author

• Maya M Escueta, Columbia University
  Presenting Author