Author : Cara Michelle Wallace (Psy.D. candidate at the University of Hartford)
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780438637580
Total Pages : 166 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (375 download)
Book Synopsis The Relationship of Maternal Trauma to Parent-child Interaction and Child Social-emotional Functioning by : Cara Michelle Wallace (Psy.D. candidate at the University of Hartford)
Download or read book The Relationship of Maternal Trauma to Parent-child Interaction and Child Social-emotional Functioning written by Cara Michelle Wallace (Psy.D. candidate at the University of Hartford) and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The impact of trauma has been well documented throughout the literature with regard to the social and emotional impacts it can have for individuals and their families. This study will further assess the relationship between maternal trauma history and attachment, as well as child outcome. Attachment research has noted the importance of a healthy and secure relationship between a caregiver and child. However, the parent-child interaction styles of mothers who have experienced trauma have not been as well documented in the research, though it is known that attachment as well as the effects of trauma that can be transmitted from one generation to the next, which may impact children’s internal working models. This dissertation used interview data collected over a period of 15 months from a sample of 80 first-time, low-income mothers, many of whom have experienced past physical or emotional abuse. The measures used in this study were a Trauma screen to assess the mother’s trauma history, observational assessment of the parent-child interaction style, and the BITSEA Problem Scale to assess child outcome. The Ainsworth Sensitivity Scale was used to code the observational assessment videos of these mothers with their infants to code their attachment behaviors. There were three hypotheses for the study. The first hypothesis was that mothers who experienced a traumatic event will have a less sensitive parent-child interaction style than mothers who have not experienced trauma and the second hypothesis was that children of mothers who had experienced trauma would have higher problem scores on the child outcome measure. The third hypothesis was related to mother’s age and child social-emotional functioning. The current study found that, contrary to its hypothesis, mothers who had experienced a trauma did not demonstrate less sensitivity in their parent-child interaction style than mothers who had not experienced a trauma. The current study did show a statistically significant difference in children’s outcome scores related to maternal trauma history, which supported the second hypothesis. A relationship was not found between maternal age and child outcome, which did not support the study’s third hypothesis. Additional analyses found that maternal trauma history and parent-child interaction style independently significantly predict child social emotional functioning. A discussion of the research findings and limitations of the study are offered, in addition to suggestions for future research.
