The role of maternal postmigration living difficulties in intergenerational trauma transmission among asylum-seeker mother–child dyads: Exploring complex posttraumatic stress disorder as a mechanism.
Year: 2024
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: OBJECTIVE: Among forcibly displaced people, maternal trauma and stress have been implicated in poor child socioemotional outcomes via intergenerational trauma transmission. This study explored the role of maternal postmigration living difficulties (PMLD) in the pathway linking maternal trauma, trauma-related psychopathology, and child socioemotional outcomes among mother-child dyads seeking asylum in a high-risk urban setting. METHOD: posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex posttraumatic stress disorder disturbances in self-organization (DSO) symptoms between past maternal trauma exposure and current postdisplacement child internalizing and externalizing difficulties. Children's direct exposure to adverse life experiences was controlled for. RESULTS: Maternal PTSD symptoms mediated the association between past maternal trauma exposure and child internalizing difficulties, but not externalizing difficulties, across all levels of current maternal PMLD. However, maternal DSO symptoms mediated internalizing and externalizing child outcomes, but only among mothers reporting high levels of current PMLD. CONCLUSION: PTSD, however, is independent of the degree of maternal PMLD. Findings suggest that policies designed to buffer intergenerational trauma transmission among forcibly displaced people may need to consider the toxicity of PMLD as well as enable mothers to heal from PTSD. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).
DOI: 10.1037/tra0001767
Language: English
Topic: Migration, Health and Trauma
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4402360206