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Contribution title Impact of Maternal Trauma on Children's Peripubertal Difficulties: The Role of Children’s Representations of their Caregivers
Contribution code D3.152
Authors
  1. Audraine Le Boudec CHUV & Université de Lausanne Presenter
  2. Sébastien Urben
  3. Joann L. Robinson University of Connecticut
  4. Daniel Scott Schechter Lausanne University Hospital
  5. Mathilde Morisod CHUV (Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois) Presenter
Form of presentation Poster
Topic
  • T45 - Birth Cohorts and longitudinal studies
Abstract Aims: By exploring the associations between maternal Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), child play-narratives, and child psychopathology, this study aims to enlighten some of the developmental pathways through which maternal trauma impacts child development. We hypothesized that the severity of maternal PTSD symptoms would predict later child psychopathology, and that the child’s mental representations of caregivers described in a narrative play task would moderate this effect.
Method: Within a three-phase longitudinal study of mothers and their children, we analyzed maternal PTSD symptoms via the Clinical Administered PTSD scale (CAPS) in phase 1 (ages 1-3,5 years), child’s mental representations, as explored in the MacArthur Story Stem Battery (MSSB) in phase 2 (ages 4-9 years) and child self-reported psychopathology on the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in phase 3 (ages 9 to 14 years). Simple non-parametric correlations, regression modeling, testing for moderation were performed to test our hypothesis.
Results: We found a trend-level association between maternal PTSD symptom severity in phase 1 and child psychopathology (SDQ) in phase 3 (ρ(43) = .259, p = .085). Child mental representations involving parental protection in story stems of child injury moderated the effect of maternal PTSD on child SDQ scores (estimate = -.1337, p = .036). Those involving avoidance and dissociation scores in story stems eliciting parental empathy moderated the effect of maternal PTSD on child SDQ in phase 3 (estimate = .287, p = .008, controlling for age).
Conclusion: Maternal PTSD severity predicted later child psychopathology. In children of mothers suffering from PTSD, parental figures represented in play narratives as providing safety is a protective factor for later psychopathology. On the contrary, when children's narratives about challenging moments are disrupted by more frequent avoidance and dissociation, it is a risk factor for later psychopathology.