Parenting Stress Moderates the Relation between Parental Trauma Exposure and Child Anxiety Symptoms

Trauma exposure can lead to poor psychological health not only for those directly affected, but also for their children. Additional research is needed to understand mechanisms in the intergenerational sequelae of traumatic stress. The current study examined parenting stress as a moderator of the association between parents' lifetime trauma exposure and school-aged children's internalizing symptoms (N = 139 dyads). Results of multiple regression analyses showed that the relationships between parental trauma exposure and child separation anxiety and harm avoidance were significant when parenting stress was moderate to high, but not when parenting stress was low. Parental trauma exposure was not significantly associated with child depressive symptoms. Clinical implications include the importance of screening and addressing parents' trauma exposure and parenting stress in the context of child and family mental health services. Further research is needed to explicate the mechanisms linking parents' trauma exposure with child anxiety symptoms.