Responsive Parenting Buffers the Impact of Maternal PTSD on Young Children

SYNOPSIS

Objective. This study investigates maternal responsive parenting behaviors as a theorized buffer to the detrimental impact of maternal PTSD symptoms on young children’s depression and anxiety symptoms, disruptive behavior, and stress-related symptoms. Design. A multi-ethnic sample of 242 trauma-exposed mothers and their preschool-aged children was assessed. Maternal responsive parenting behaviors were observed during standardized parent-child interactions. Maternal and child mental health symptoms were reported by mothers. Results. Maternal PTSD symptoms were associated with their responsive parenting behaviors and predicted children’s mental health symptoms. Responsive parenting was inversely associated with children’s depression and stress-related symptoms. Moderation analyses revealed an interactive effect of maternal symptoms and responsive parenting on preschool children’s disruptive behavior and stress-related symptoms. Conclusions. Responsive parenting behaviors can mitigate the ill effects of maternal PTSD symptoms. Nurturing relationships buffer the impact of maternal PTSD. Helping parents’ to sensitively respond to their young children’s distress can support positive outcomes in children.

ADDRESSES AND AFFILIATIONS

Carolyn A. Greene, Department of Psychiatry, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, 65 Kane Street, West Hartford, Connecticut 06119. EMail: [email protected]. Kimberly J. McCarthy and Margaret J. Briggs-Gowan are also at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Ryne Estabrook is at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Lauren S. Wakschlag is at Northwestern University.

ARTICLE INFORMATION

Conflict of interest disclosures

Each author signed a form for disclosure of potential conflicts of interest. No authors reported any financial or other conflicts of interest in relation to the work described.

Ethical principles

The authors affirm having followed professional ethical guidelines in preparing this work. These guidelines include obtaining informed consent from human participants, maintaining ethical treatment and respect for the rights of human or animal participants, and ensuring the privacy of participants and their data, such as ensuring that individual participants cannot be identified in reported results or from publicly available original or archival data.

Role of the Funders/Sponsors

None of the funders or sponsors of this research had any role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; or decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the reviewers for their comments on prior versions of this manuscript. The ideas and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors alone, and endorsement by the authors’ institutions and the National Institute of Mental Health, and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development is not intended and should not be inferred.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Grants [R01MH090301, R01MH082830, and U01MH082830] from the National Institute of Mental Health and Grant K23HD094824 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development. The MacArthur Health and Behavior Questionnaire was made available free of charge by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Psychopathology and Development (David J. Kupfer, Network Chair).