Peer-reviewed article
Impact of maternal betrayal trauma on parent and child well-being: Attachment style and emotion regulation as moderators.
Kara J. Choi, Maria Kangas ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how maternal trauma from betrayal by close others affects the well-being of mothers and their school-age children. Researchers surveyed 174 Australian mothers and found that high betrayal trauma was linked to greater maternal distress, reduced child well-being, and problems with emotion regulation. The study identified that mothers' difficulty managing emotions made the negative effects of betrayal trauma worse.
Key points
- High betrayal traumas (by close others) were significantly associated with greater maternal distress and trauma symptoms compared to low betrayal traumas
- High betrayal trauma was associated with reduced child well-being
- Emotion regulation difficulties moderated the relationship between betrayal trauma and maternal distress
- Mothers with high betrayal trauma who have poor emotion regulation may experience greater distress than those with better emotion regulation strategies
- High betrayal trauma was associated with greater attachment anxiety but not significantly different attachment avoidance or parenting stress compared to low betrayal trauma
Limitations
The study relies on self-report measures from mothers only, without independent assessment of child well-being or validation from other sources. The cross-sectional design cannot determine causality or the direction of effects between maternal trauma, emotion regulation, and child outcomes.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: While high betrayal (HB) traumas (i.e., traumas perpetrated by close others) are associated with reduced maternal and child well-being compared to low betrayal (LB) traumas (i.e., traumas that are noninterpersonal or perpetrated by nonclose others), moderators of these relationships have not yet been examined. The aim of the present study was to examine the associations between maternal lifetime betrayal trauma and parent and child well-being while also examining attachment style and emotion regulation as potential moderators. METHOD: Australian mothers (N = 174) of school-age children (5-12 years) completed online self-report measures assessing betrayal trauma, well-being, attachment style, and emotion regulation strategies. RESULTS: HB traumas were significantly associated with greater maternal distress and trauma symptoms, reduced child well-being, greater attachment anxiety, and greater difficulties with emotion regulation but were not significantly different with regard to parenting stress, social support satisfaction, or attachment avoidance when compared with LB traumas. Emotion regulation difficulties moderated the relationship between betrayal trauma history and maternal distress. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that mothers with HB trauma histories who also have difficulties with emotion regulation may experience greater levels of distress compared to mothers with HB trauma histories who use more adaptive emotion regulation strategies. Accordingly, it may be especially important for victims of HB traumas to address trauma-related misappraisals regarding the self and others while strengthening the use of adaptive emotion regulation strategies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).