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Family Violence, PTSD, and Parent–Child Interactions: Dyadic Data Analysis with Mexican Families

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Abstract

Background

Family violence has been shown to have a dramatic impact on individual and family life in the United States and other countries. Numerous studies have assessed the influence that exposure to violence can have on family dynamics and parent–child relationships. However, less is known about the association between family violence and parent–child relationships with Mexican families.

Objective

Guided by social interaction learning theory, the purpose of this study was to explore the link between family violence, PTSD, and mother–child interaction patterns.

Methods

Eighty-seven mother–child dyads from Mexico completed assessments for exposure to family violence and PTSD symptoms. We coded and analyzed observational tasks to assess prosocial parent–child interactions, such as positive communication and problem solving. We conducted an actor-partner independence model (APIM) to examine the association between exposure to family violence, PTSD and mother–child relationship dynamics.

Results

As expected, higher exposure to family violence was linked to higher PTSD symptoms for mothers. Unexpectedly, higher maternal PTSD symptoms were associated with better communication during dyadic interaction tasks with their children.

Conclusions

The present study suggests that individuals from certain cultures (i.e., Mexico) may respond differently to experiencing family violence. The use of multiple measurement methods to assess the relational effects of trauma on family dynamics can advance the scientific understanding of trauma affected families.

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Code Availability

SPSS syntax and Mplus code is available upon request.

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Funding

Daniel Cooper: Prevention and Methodology Training Program (T32 DA017629; PI: L. M. Collins) with funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Diego Garcia-Huidobro: Programa Investigacion Migracion y Salud, Comision Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia, Mexico (PIMSA, CONACYT).

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Authors

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Correspondence to Daniel K. Cooper.

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Conflict of interest

We have no conflict of interests to report at this time.

Availability of Data and Materials

These data are not publicly available.

Consent to Participate

We obtained informed consent from all participants prior to the study.

Consent for Publication

Study participants were made aware that data would be used for publication and that no personal identifiers would be included in the manuscript.

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Appendices

Appendix: Survey Items

See Tables 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10

Table 3 Child Family Violence: Family Violence Checklist (Catani et al. 2008)
Table 4 Mother Family Violence: Composite Abuse Scale (Hegarty 2007)
Table 5 Child PTSD: UCLA PTSD Index (Pynoos et al. 1998)
Table 6 Mother PTSD: Posttraumatic Stress Diagnostic Scale (Foa et al. 1997)
Table 7 Mother Problem Solving: Adapted from the Coder Impressions Inventory (Dishion et al. 2004)
Table 8 Child Problem Solving: Adapted from the Coder Impressions Inventory (Dishion et al. 2004)
Table 9 Mother positive communication: Adapted from the Coder Impressions Inventory (Dishion et al. 2004)

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Cooper, D.K., Erolin, K.S., Wieling, E. et al. Family Violence, PTSD, and Parent–Child Interactions: Dyadic Data Analysis with Mexican Families. Child Youth Care Forum 49, 915–940 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-020-09564-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-020-09564-3

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