Poster #83 - Parental Dysregulation and Trauma Symptomatology during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Protective Role of Familial Affective Involvement

• In Event: Poster Session 05

Abstract

Background. The COVID-19 pandemic and its related disruptions have been termed a ‘collective trauma’ by many researchers (Sanchez-Gomez et al., 2021). Parents of school-aged children in particular have been exposed to substantial disruption. In addition to coping with social isolation and potential financial pressures, parents were also greatly impacted by school closures, remote learning, and inconsistent childcare. Parents of school-aged children are reporting notable increases in mental health difficulties since the pandemic’s onset (Gadermann et al., 2020). It is well-established that difficulties with emotion regulation prior to the onset of any environmental stressor puts individuals at further risk for the development of psychopathology, including post-traumatic stress (Forbes et al., 2020). This is especially critical given that parental traumatic stress serves as a predictor for child development of psychopathology (Glaus et al., 2021). It is possible, however, that a positive familial affective climate (i.e., the extent to which a family is adaptively involved and places values in the emotions of others in the family system) may reduce risk and protect parents against the development of post-traumatic stress symptoms. Aim. The present study tested family functioning and familial affective involvement as moderators of the link between parental emotion dysregulation and posttraumatic stress symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods. Using a longitudinal design, 114 American parents (56% mothers) of children aged 12-17 years (M = 14.06, SD = 1.80) participated in two waves of data collection (in 2018 and 2021). At T1 (i.e., pre-pandemic), parents reported on their emotion dysregulation; at T2 (i.e., mid-pandemic), they reported on their general family functioning, familial affective expression and involvement, and symptoms of post-traumatic stress related to COVID-19. Results. SPSS PROCESS macro was used to run a moderated regression model that was significant overall, F(5, 108) = 14.67, p < .001 (f2 = 0.68), with parental emotion dysregulation at T1 positively predicting trauma symptoms at T2, B = 0.17, 95% CI [0.06, 0.29], SE = 0.06, p = .004. General adaptive family functioning at T2 was negatively associated with posttraumatic stress at T2, B = -7.59, 95% CI [-13.11, -2.07], SE = 2.79, p = .008. Although there was no main effect for familial affective involvement, there was a significant interaction between parental emotion dysregulation pre-pandemic and affective involvement on posttraumatic stress, B = -0.26, 95% CI [-4.73, -0.04], SE = 0.11, p = .018 (R2 change = .03). Specifically, pre-pandemic parental emotion dysregulation positively predicted posttraumatic stress when familial affective involvement was low, B = 0.38, 95% CI [0.23, - 0.57], SE = .08, p < .001. At high levels of familial affective involvement, parental emotion dysregulation did not predict posttraumatic stress, B = -0.04, 95% CI [-0.23, 0.14], SE = .09, p = .654. Implications. Findings highlight the importance of an adaptive family system in protecting parents against developing posttraumatic stress symptoms in response to collective traumatic experiences. Familial affective involvement appears to be especially protective for parents high in emotion dysregulation above and beyond general family functioning.

Authors

• Chelsea Reaume, University of Guelph
  Presenting Author

• Matthew Polo, University of Guelph

• Kristel Thomassin, University of Guelph