Examining the reciprocal relationships between parent functioning and child posttraumatic stress throughout trauma therapy

Abstract

When a child is abused, parental support, emotional reactions, and stress are exacerbated by the child’s post-trauma symptoms and negatively impact the child’s responses to treatment. Given that these parental factors (PFs) are amenable to change, parental involvement in the treatment of the child’s abuse and trauma symptoms is critical for both victims’ and parents’ recovery. This study examined the reciprocal relationship between three PFs (parental support, parent emotional reaction, parenting stress) and child symptoms of posttraumatic stress (PTS) related to trauma. The parent-child relationship was explored by testing a hypothesized transactional relationship between PFs and child PTS with structural equation modeling. The sample consisted of 115 children and their non-offending caregivers who were referred for trauma therapy. Child PTS symptoms were assessed via child-report and parent-report and PFs were assessed via parent-report at pre-assessment, pre-therapy, post-therapy, and six-month follow-up. Parent emotional reaction, parent depression, and parenting competency were related to child PTS in a reciprocal fashion. Parent emotional reaction emerged as a key indicator of child PTS over the course of trauma therapy. This may be due to a ‘spill-over’ effect of parents’ emotions on their children. By assessing parents’ emotional reactions to their child’s trauma, clinicians can target parents’ emotional barriers and aid profound recovery for both parent and child.