Trauma Symptoms and Self-Blame Among Children in Military Families Exposed to Violence

Abstract

Children’s exposure to violence is a significant public health issue associated with heightened trauma symptoms. Children exposed to multiple types of violence may develop beliefs that there is something about them or their actions to blame for their experiences, which in turn increases distress. We examined how the number of violence exposures and self-blame related to trauma symptoms among children referred to the United States Navy’s Family Advocacy Program for family violence. Participants were recruited as part of a larger study on families reported to the Family Advocacy Program due to allegations of child physical abuse (48%), sexual abuse (20%), or intimate partner violence (32%). Children (N = 195) were 63% female and aged 7 to 17 years old (Mean age = 12.17). We investigated the relation between child self-reports of violence exposure and self-blame within 2 to 6 weeks of the referral and trauma symptoms reported by children and a non-offending caregiver 9 to 12 months later. The number of violence exposures (b = 2.93, p < .001) and self-blame (b = 1.22, p < .001) predicted higher levels of child-reported trauma symptoms. Self-blame mediated the association between the number of violence exposures and child-reported trauma symptoms, indirect effect = 0.70, 95% Confidence interval [0.18, 1.22]. These effects did not emerge for caregiver reports. Results highlight the importance of broad assessments of violence and self-blame among children referred for family violence.