Posttraumatic stress and emotion regulation in survivors of intimate partner violence.

Abstract

Rates of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) are high among female survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV), and children of parents experiencing PTSS are at increased risk for emotional and behavioral problems. However, little is known about the factors that may explain this relation. We examined child's emotion regulation as a moderator and mother's emotion regulation as a mediator of the relation between mother PTSS and child adjustment. Sixty-four female survivors of IPV and their 6-12-year-old children participated. Mothers reported their own PTSS and their children's adjustment. Child emotion regulation was measured using respiratory sinus arrhythmia, a physiological index of emotion regulation. Mother's emotion regulation was measured from observer coding of the Parent Meta-Emotion Interview (Katz & Gottman, 1986), which asked mothers about their awareness and regulation of emotion. Child emotion regulation moderated the relation between mother's PTSS and child depression and child PTSS. Mothers' total trauma symptom severity showed significant indirect effects on children's internalizing, externalizing, and total problems via mothers' emotion regulation. Results suggest that children's as well as mothers' emotion-regulation abilities represent factors that affect associations between maternal PTSS and child adjustment in families exposed to IPV.

Psychological and physical intimate partner violence and young children’s mental health: The role of maternal posttraumatic stress symptoms and parenting behaviors

“…In fact, significant indirect effect pathways identified PTSD as a potential mediator between maternal IPV and young children’s mental health in all 4 models. This is consistent with recent research that documents a strong relationship between maternal PTSD and children’s mental health problems (Enlow et al, 2011; Leen-Feldner et al, 2013; Pat-Horenczyk et al, 2017), and suggests that mothers who are struggling with their own reactions to their victimization may be less able to regulate their response to their children (Katz & Gurtovenko, 2015). Prior work suggests that mothers who are experiencing posttraumatic stress may be unavailable or unable to provide their child with supportive, instructional, and empathic responses to their emotional distress (Kim, Trickett, & Putnam, 2010).…”

“…One potential pathway through which parental PTSD may affect children’s wellbeing is parenting. The presence of posttraumatic stress symptoms can interfere with positive parenting behaviors, modelling of regulated emotions and responding effectively to their children, and reactivity to stress resulting from traumatic experiences may lead to increased use of harsh, maladaptive or physically aggressive parenting strategies (Ammerman, Putnam, Chard, Stevens, & Van Ginkel, 2012; Chemtob & Carlson, 2004; Gewirtz, Polusny, DeGarmo, Khaylis, & Erbes, 2010; Katz & Gurtovenko, 2015; Lauterbach et al, 2007; Leen-Feldner, Feldner, Bunaciu, & Blumenthal, 2011; Sherman, Smith, Straits-Troster, Larsen, & Gewirtz, 2016). Although only two of these studies focused on parents of young children, the results are consistent with those of the larger literature in linking PTSD symptoms with harsh/reactive parenting (Ammerman et al., 2012; Chemtob & Carlson, 2004) as well as insensitivity to infant cues (Ammerman et al, 2012).…”

Examining the Prospective Relationship between Pre-Disaster Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia and Post-Disaster Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms in Children

“…Previous cross-sectional studies in adults have generally shown lower baseline RSA among those with PTSD compared to healthy controls (Blechert et al 2007; Cohen et al 2000; Hauschlidt et al 2011); however, the few previous studies of children have not shown significant differences without taking contextual factors into consideration (Scheeringa et al 2004; Katz and Gurtovenko 2015). Similarly, the current study found no significant concurrent associations between neutral RSA level and PTSD symptoms.…”

“…However, when parenting was taken into account, a significant interaction was found such that children with high PTSD symptoms and low parental positive discipline showed the largest decrease in RSA during the trauma memory. Among 6-12 year-old children with mothers exposed to intimate partner violence, Katz and Gurtovenko (2015) found no association between baseline RSA and PTSD symptoms. However, they did find an interaction such that those children who had low baseline RSA and mothers experiencing PTSD symptoms showed the highest PTSD symptoms themselves.…”

Relationship between interpersonal violence victimization and suicide risk in Indian college students: Does prior exposure to interpersonal violence also matter?

“…In turn, IPV victimization has been found to be associated with a wide range of negative psychological outcomes (e.g. stress, depression, and anxiety; Katz and Gurtovenko, 2015; Próspero and Kim, 2009), including heightened suicide risk (Cavanaugh et al, 2011; Randle and Graham, 2011). For example, findings from recent studies of college students have shown that IPV victimization is associated with greater suicide risk (e.g.…”