The Role of Parental Trauma-Related Distress in Emotion Socialization and Child Internalizing Symptoms

Research demonstrates that parental posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is linked to increased levels of parenting stress, lower parenting satisfaction, and overall negative parenting. Beyond impacting parenting behaviors, parental PTSD symptoms are also associated with child outcomes, including increased internalizing symptoms (i.e., depression and anxiety). Emotion socialization—the process by which parents teach their children how to express and regulate their emotions—is one aspect of parenting that may be sensitive to parental psychopathology. Emotion socialization facilitates child emotion knowledge, expression, and regulation, which is important for overall socioemotional development. Given that there is limited research exploring PTSD and emotion socialization, the present study aimed to examine the associations between parental trauma-related distress, emotion socialization, and child internalizing symptoms. Participants were 86 families (parents and child) who had enrolled in an ongoing longitudinal study during pregnancy and completed preschool-age assessments. Parental trauma-related distress, parental emotion socialization (i.e., observed parental emotion talk and parent-report of responses to children’s negative emotions), and child internalizing problems were assessed when children were 3.5 years of age. Correlations demonstrate significant associations among parental trauma-related distress, parental emotion socialization, and preschooler internalizing symptoms. Findings of the present study have the potential to identify early treatment targets within the family that, when addressed, can reduce risk for child internalizing symptoms in the context of parental trauma-related distress.