Parenting in the context of political conflict: an investigation into the psychological and intergenerational consequences

Background Research indicates that exposure to political conflict in childhood places children at risk of developing various adverse adjustment outcomes. There is an emerging body of literature examining the potential protective – and/or risk enhancing - roles of parenting in this context. Aims of thesis The present thesis sought to develop the existing literature base and examined how parenting received in the context of protracted political conflict in childhood influences: discrete children’s adjustment outcomes (chapter three); psychological wellbeing in adulthood (chapter four); and provisions of parenting in later life (chapter five). Methods Four novel investigations were conducted: a psychometric critique of Kendler’s (1996) Parental Bonding Instrument; a systematic mapping review of the literature concerning childhood exposure to political conflict, parenting, and children’s adjustment outcomes; and two empirical studies that surveyed 375 Northern Irish mothers raised during The Troubles, and investigated: (1) the association between exposure to political conflict in childhood and adult well-being, with adverse childhood experiences and perceptions of the parenting received as mediators; and (2) potential intergenerational continuity of parenting (the association between parenting received and parenting given to the subsequent generation), with adult-wellbeing as a mediator. Results The systematic mapping review provided tentative evidence to suggest that provisions of parental support and positive behavioural control can protect against several problematic child outcomes, following exposure to political conflict. Lack of parental support, and the provisions of punitive behavioural control and/or psychological control increase the likelihood of adverse outcomes. In the first empirical study, it was found that greater exposure to political conflict was associated with higher numbers of familial stressors, which, in turn, had a detrimental impact on parental support and behavioural control. There was a positive association between the above parenting variables and adult well-being. The results of the second empirical study indicated that there was no direct continuity of parenting across generations; however, there was a mediated effect, whereby individuals who received parental support and parental behavioural control in childhood were predisposed to have higher psychological well-being in adulthood, and individuals who had higher psychological well-being in adulthood were more likely to display warmth and behavioural control to their own children, in a post-conflict society. Conclusions The findings indicate that in the context of political conflict, parenting can have both protective, and risk enhancing, implications for various children’s adjustment outcomes. The empirical studies indicated that when individuals were exposed to higher levels of political conflict in childhood, they were more likely to also experience more familial-level stressors, which, in turn, were associated with perceptions of reduced received parental support and parental behavioural control. Such parenting practices predisposed individuals to experience poorer psychological well-being in adulthood, which increased the likelihood that individuals would provide lower levels of support and behavioural control to their own children, in a post-conflict society. This pathway was, however, not inevitable. When individuals perceived that they received parental support and behavioural control in the context of political conflict, they reported greater psychological well-being in adulthood, and, consequently, reported the provision of greater support and behavioural control to their own children, in a post-conflict society.