Intergenerational impacts of war and instability: Caregiver trauma exposure, mental health, parenting, and offspring development

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Trauma exposures, including armed conflicts, political instability, and displacement are prevalent and currently occurring in many regions around the world. The impact of war exposure and related trauma experience tend to persist following the conflict, such that the influence of war may propagate within families and across generations. However, research examining the intergenerational impacts of caregiver war exposure and mental health problems on parenting, family functioning, and offspring psychosocial adjustment in post-conflict settings is sparse.
The first paper in this symposium will examine the longitudinal associations among trauma exposure and hardship, mental health, emotional dysregulation, and parenting behaviors among parents of young children in Rwanda. The second paper will examine the effects of paternal and maternal parenting behaviors (indexed by rejection, ignorance, aggression, and warmth) on offspring’s difficulties in emotion regulation (DERS) and mental health (internalizing and externalizing problems) in a mediation model where offspring’s difficulties in emotion regulation served as a mediator between parenting and offspring mental health. The third paper will explore how exposure to war and post-conflict adversity impacts refugee mental health and parenting practices as conduits for the intergenerational transmission of trauma.
Taken together, this symposium addresses the gaps in the literature by integrating novel longitudinal evidence to understand the intergenerational impacts of caregiver trauma exposure on parenting and offspring development. The findings highlight the importance of intervention and policy for improving the lives of children and families in post-war settings.

Sub Unit

• Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Chair

• Sarah Jensen, Boston College

Discussant

• Kristen McLean, College of Charleston

Individual Presentations

• Mental health of Youth Offspring of Adult War-affected youth in Sierra Leone: Effects of Paternal and Maternal Parenting and Offspring Difficulties in Emotion Regulation - Presenting Author: Shaobing Su, Boston College; Non-Presenting Author: Theresa Stichick Betancourt, Boston College

• Psychosocial pathways of intergenerational transmission of parental trauma and mental health problems in Rwanda - Presenting Author: Sarah Jensen, Boston College; Non-Presenting Author: Vincent Sezibera, University of Rwanda; Non-Presenting Author: Shauna M. Murray, Boston College; Non-Presenting Author: Robert T Brennan, Research Program for Children and Adversity at Boston College; Non-Presenting Author: Theresa Stichick Betancourt, Boston College

• Intergenerational transmission of trauma among U.S.-resettled Bhutanese and Somali Bantu refugees - Presenting Author: Candace Jasmine Black, Queen Mary University of London; Non-Presenting Author: Jenna Berent, Boston College; Non-Presenting Author: Haley Grieco-Page, Boston College; Non-Presenting Author: Robert T Brennan, Research Program for Children and Adversity at Boston College; Non-Presenting Author: Theresa Stichick Betancourt, Boston College