The direct and indirect effects of parental trauma on child adjustment for resettled refugees in Australia
International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care
ISSN: 1747-9894
Article publication date: 30 August 2021
Issue publication date: 25 November 2021
Abstract
Purpose
Understanding the effects trauma has on refugee parents and consequently, their children, is the first step in interrupting the intergenerational transmission of trauma. This study aims to investigate the impacts of parental exposure to trauma pre-settlement on parent and child reports of developmental difficulties as mediated by parental post-traumatic stress symptomology and harsh parenting.
Design/methodology/approach
The study included 414 refugee children (age M = 14.04, SD = 2.00; 48.3% female) and their caregivers (age M = 41.78, SD = 5.24, 77% female). The sample was drawn from the Building a New Life in Australia study, a large, representative cohort study of resettled refugees in Australia. Only data collected where both parents and their children could be matched were used in this study.
Findings
Results indicated that trauma was significantly associated with increased parental post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in all models and was negatively, albeit weakly, associated with lower levels of harsh parenting in the overall model which combined parent and child reports. Trauma also had a weak, positive indirect effect on developmental difficulties via parental PTSD in both the overall model and the model assessing parent-rated developmental difficulties. In all models, harsh parenting was associated with increased developmental difficulties, although harsh parenting did not act as a significant mediator of the effects of trauma or parental PTSD.
Originality/value
Results suggest that prior traumas had less of an adverse effect on parenting and child adjustment as was expected. Parenting, however, was strongly associated with poor child adjustment, indicating that this may be a key factor to encourage positive adjustment for refugee children.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS), the Department of Social Services (DSS), the National Centre for Longitudinal Data (NCLD), the BLNA advisory group, and all other parties involved in the creation, administration, and maintenance of the Building New Life in Australia (BLNA) study. The authors would also like to thank and acknowledge the parents and children who shared their experiences by completing this survey.
Citation
Kara, B.H. and Stuart, J. (2021), "The direct and indirect effects of parental trauma on child adjustment for resettled refugees in Australia", International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, Vol. 17 No. 4, pp. 474-486. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMHSC-04-2020-0035
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited