(PS12-49) The Role of Parental Flooding on Preschoolers’ PTSD Symptoms over Time

Saturday, November 16, 2024

4:00 PM – 5:00 PM EST

Location: Franklin Hall, Level 4, Marriott Downtown

Author(s)

HH

Helena Her, B.A.

Post-bac Research Assistant
The Pennsylvania State University
State College, Pennsylvania, United States

Co-Author(s)

AM

Amy D. Marshall, Ph.D.

Professor of Psychology
The Pennsylvania State University
University Park, Pennsylvania, United States

Abstract Text: Effective parental emotion scaffolding is critical to children’s healthy socio-emotional development and the prevention of psychopathology (Eisenberg et al., 2010). However, parents who perceive their children’s emotions as overwhelming may be less likely to respond to them in supportive and effective ways. Responsive parenting is especially important for children with PTSD, as ineffective emotion scaffolding may encourage dysregulation, further exacerbating children’s symptoms. To address this question, we examined (1) how parental flooding, the extent to which parents perceive their children’s emotional expressions as unpredictable, intense, and overwhelming is associated with changes in preschool-aged children’s PTSD symptoms and (2) the potential differential effects of male and female caregivers’ experience of flooding. Participants (N = 448; 52% women) were partnered caregivers of a child 3-5 years of age who was enrolled in, or eligible for, Head Start. Parental flooding (Parental Flooding Scale, Slep & Heyman, 1998) and child PTSD symptoms (Child Stress Disorders Checklist- Short Form; Enlow et al., 2010) were measured at enrollment in the study. Child PTSD symptoms were measured again at the conclusion of the study (on average, nine months later). Preliminary regression analyses revealed that, controlling for PTSD symptoms at time 1, fathers’ experience of flooding but not that of mothers, significantly predicted greater child PTSD symptoms at time 2 (b = .34, p = .002). Final analyses will be conducted in a multilevel modeling framework to directly test for gender differences. These findings demonstrate that fathers’ flooding may uniquely predict the maintenance of children’s PTSD symptoms. Because fathers, on average, engage in fewer caregiving responsibilities and spend less time with their children, compared to mothers, they may be especially sensitized to their children’s negative affect when it occurs. Such sensitivity may, in turn, challenge fathers’ ability to respond to their child’s needs appropriately, thus impairing children’s ability to recover from traumatic experiences and decrease PTSD symptoms. Additionally, these findings highlight the important role fathers play in children’s recovery as well as the importance of including both fathers and mothers in research on parenting and child psychopathology.