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

Abstract

Young children are at significant risk of exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV), and vulnerable to exposure-related psychopathology, yet few studies investigate the effects of exposure to IPV on children under the age of 5 years. The current study investigated the role of maternal PTSD symptoms and parenting strategies in the relationship between mothers' IPV experiences and psychopathology in their young children, ages 3-6 years in a community-based cohort of 308 mother-child dyads at high risk for family violence. Data were collected from 2011 to 2014. IPV history and maternal PTSD symptoms were assessed by self-report questionnaires. Children's symptoms were assessed with a developmentally-sensitive psychiatric interview administered to mothers. Punitive/restrictive parenting was independently-coded from in-depth interviews with mothers about their disciplinary practices. Hypothesized direct and indirect pathways between physical and psychological IPV, maternal PTSD, maternal parenting style, and children's internalizing and externalizing symptoms were examined with mediation models. Results indicated that neither physical nor psychological IPV experienced by mothers was directly associated with children's symptoms. However, both types of victimization were associated with maternal PTSD symptoms. Examination of indirect pathways suggested that maternal PTSD symptoms mediated the relationship between mothers' psychological and physical IPV experiences and children's internalizing and externalizing symptoms and mothers' restrictive/punitive parenting mediated the relationship between mothers' psychological IPV and children's externalizing symptoms. In addition, there was a path from maternal physical IPV to child externalizing symptoms through both maternal PTSD symptoms and restrictive/punitive parenting. Findings highlight the importance of supporting parents in recovering from the sequelae of their own traumatic experiences, as their ensuing mental health symptoms and parenting behaviors may have a significant impact on their children's emotional health.

Exploring the stress sensitization theory with temperamentally inhibited children: a population-based study

“…Guidance could be offered to foster resilience. Children can model distress behaviors by observing parents' own responses to life stressors [10,12,[83][84][85][86][87]. For parents to maintain calm and positive parenting could therefore be protective when their inhibited child is faced with stressors [10].…”

Salud mental y miedo a la separación en mujeres víctimas de violencia de pareja

“…Los datos parecen indicar que, a pesar de la situación de violencia, solo el 8.1% de las entrevistadas puntuaron por encima del valor 3 tanto en frecuencia como en intensidad o afectación a los reactivos del DTS (Davidson et al, 1997). En síntesis, en la muestra de mujeres nicaragüenses, el TEPT tiene una menor prevalencia respecto a otros estudios (Golding, 1999;Greene et al, 2018;Mbalo et al, 2017;Mertin y Mohr, 2000;Riggs et al, 2000). Estos datos podrían estar afectados por posibles sesgos en las respuestas, pues la evaluación del TEPT es compleja dada la alta comorbilidad hallada en otras investigaciones (Arce et al, 2015).…”

“…Concretamente, el TEPT es uno de los diagnósticos más frecuentes en la violencia contra las mujeres, con tasas que oscilan entre el 16% al 57% (Golding, 1999;Greene, Chan, McCarthy, Wakschlag, y Briggs-Gowan, 2018;Mertin y Mohr, 2000). Para otros, su prevalencia puede alcanzar el 80% (Riggs, Caulfield, y Street, 2000).…”

Should failure to protect laws include physical and emotional sibling violence?

“…Often, this results in increased child aggression and behavioural problems that manifest in psychopathologies such as antisocial personality disorder (Greene, Chan, McCarthy, Wakschlag, & Briggs-Gowan, 2018). …”