Intergenerational Trauma among Families in El Salvador: an Exploratory Study

This study aimed to examine intergenerational trauma exposure among a sample of parents living in a semi-urban Salvadoran community and the relationship between child trauma exposure with maternal perceived discrimination, internal strengths and external support. Survey data was collected from 49 mothers residing in El Salvador. Bivariate analyses and multivariate linear regression analyses were used to examine the relationship between children ’s exposure to adverse childhood events and parents’ exposure to adverse childhood events, while controlling for discrimination. The results of the regression analysis indicate that the maternal number of adverse childhood events and experience of discrimination as an adult explained 52.9% of th e variance (R2 = 0.59, F(6, 43) = 10.18,p <  .0001). The number of adverse childhood events was significantly predicted by maternal number of adverse events (B = 0.32, 95% CI = 0.17–0.48,p <  .0001) and experience of discrimination as adults (B = 5.79, 95% CI = 3.51–8.07,p <  .0001). Results suggest that parent exposure to adverse childhood events and parent experience with discrimination are related to the exposure to adverse childhood events of their children. Further research in this area is warranted to better understand the experiences of parents who have been ex posed to childhood trauma and the day-to-day parenting challenges. Greater understanding of the impact of childhood trauma als...
Source: Journal of Child and Adolescent Trauma - Category: Child Development Source Type: research