Recovery of children’s posttraumatic stress after family violence: The role of parental stress, parents’ posttraumatic stress, and emotional security

Posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTS) have been observed in children exposed to family violence. Although functioning improves for many children after cessation of violence, pathways to recovery are poorly understood. This study tests the mediating pathways between changes in family violence and children's PTS through children's emotional security, parental stress, and parents' PTS. We used longitudinal data of 562 children and their parents who were referred to child protection service. Data included three waves over a one and a half years period. Questionnaire data of both children and parents were analyzed in R Lavaan with Random Intercept Cross Lagged Panel Models to examine intrafamilial associations. Child-reported, but not parent-reported, decreases in family violence predicted decreases in child PTS from the first to the second wave. Changes in parental stress, parent PTS, and emotional security did not mediate the associations between change in family violence and child PTS. We found in exploratory analyses that decreases in parental stress predicted decreases in parent-reported family violence. The results emphasize the importance of reducing family violence for children to recover from PTS. Parental stress may be a factor in restoring safety.