Examining associations between maternal trauma, child attachment security, and child behaviours in refugee families in Canada
Loading...
Date
2020-07-20
Authors
Barnes, Jennifer
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Limited research has been conducted on the mental health needs of refugee families in Canada. The goals of this study were to update the literature on rates of trauma-related and depressive symptomology in refugee women in Canada, and to examine the relationships between maternal trauma, child attachment security, and child internalizing and externalizing behaviours. 36 refugee women and their young children (18 months-5 years) were recruited across multiple cities in Canada. During in-home visits, mothers completed a variety of questionnaires while an observation of attachment-related behaviours for the Attachment Q-Set (AQS) was conducted. Results indicated that while 94.4% of refugee mothers reported experiencing at least one traumatic event, only 2.8% reported clinical levels of PTSD symptoms and 14% of the mothers reported moderate PTSD symptoms. 13.9% of the mothers reported moderate depressive symptomology and 16.7% reported mild symptoms. Exposure to traumatic events was not significantly related to child attachment security or behaviours. However, maternal trauma symptom severity was strongly related to child internalizing and externalizing behaviours. Child attachment security was strongly and negatively related to both child internalizing and externalizing behaviours. A mediation analysis examining the effect of parenting behaviours on the relationship between maternal trauma and child attachment security did not reveal any significant results, nor did more thorough conditional process analyses which considered additional variables (including maternal depression, maternal attachment security, and maternal social support). However, the results of a moderation analysis revealed that attachment security significantly moderated the relationship between maternal trauma symptoms and child externalizing behaviours, such that maternal trauma symptoms only predicted externalizing behaviours for those children with low attachment security. A similar pattern was found for the relationship between maternal trauma symptoms and child total problem behaviours. The results of this study illustrate the importance of child attachment security as a protective factor against the development of externalizing behaviours in the face of maternal trauma. This study lays the groundwork for important clinical and policy recommendations in order to meet the mental health needs of this next generation of Canadians.
Description
Keywords
Attachment, Trauma, Child-parent, Mother, Children, Behaviours