The aims of this study were, first, to examine how exposure to war trauma,
maternal neuroticism and psychological distress are associated with child
psychological distress, and, second, whether good maternal mental health and low
neuroticism can moderate the negative impact of war trauma on child mental
health. Third, we examined whether mother-child dyads’ psychological
distress was dependent on who was the main war trauma victim in the family: the
mother, the child or both. Fourth, we tested whether mother-child dyads express
similar or different symptoms. The sample consists of 121 Palestinian children
(aged 6-16 years; 45% girls and 55% boys), and their mothers (aged 21-55 years)
living under conditions of military violence and war in Gaza. Child
psychological distress was measured using the CPTS-RI (child-reported) and
Rutter Parent Questionnaire (mother-reported), and mothers’ mental
health was measured using the SCL-90-R. The results failed to show any
moderating effect of good maternal mental health or low neuroticism in
protecting child mental health from negative impact of war trauma. The main
effects showed that the child’s young age, war trauma and poor
maternal mental health were associated with children’s internalizing
symptoms, and male gender, maternal neuroticism and poor mental health with
children’s externalizing symptoms. There were gender differences in
psychological distress depending on whether the mother, the child or both were
the main war trauma victim in the family: girls showed particularly high
psychological distress when their mothers were exposed to war trauma (family
systems model), whereas boys showed high levels of distress when both they
themselves and their mothers were exposed to war trauma (accumulative impact
model). Similarities were confirmed in dyadic symptom expression: significant
associations were found between mothers’ depressive and
children’s internalizing symptoms, and between mothers’
hostile and children’s externalizing symptoms.
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