Peer-reviewed article
Maternal posttraumatic stress symptoms, parenting stress, and child psychological and cognitive outcomes among Syrian refugee mother-child dyads in Türkiye: a mixed-methods study.
Çınaroğlu M ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how Syrian refugee mothers' trauma symptoms affect their children's emotional, behavioral, and thinking skills in Türkiye. Researchers found that when mothers experienced post-traumatic stress, they became more stressed as parents, which in turn harmed children's psychological well-being and ability to concentrate. The study included both questionnaires from 200 mother-child pairs and interviews with 30 families, which both showed similar results. Protective factors like maternal warmth, school support, and religious coping helped reduce negative effects. The findings suggest that helping refugee children requires treating both mothers' trauma and family stress together.
Key points
- Maternal posttraumatic stress symptoms were directly linked to higher parenting stress, more child emotional and behavioral problems, and poorer child executive functioning
- Parenting stress mediated the relationship between maternal PTSD and child total behavioral problems (indirect effect = 0.12)
- Parenting stress also mediated the relationship between maternal PTSD and child attention difficulties measured by Stroop test (indirect effect = 0.052)
- Qualitative interviews showed mothers' trauma-related distress, irritability, and inconsistent responses were reflected in children's fear, withdrawal, and attention problems
- Protective factors included maternal warmth, school support, supportive relationships, religious coping, and future-oriented hope
Limitations
The study is cross-sectional, so causality cannot be definitively established. The sample was limited to one location (Mardin) and specific age group (6-11 years), which may limit generalizability to other refugee populations and age groups.
Abstract
Background Refugee children exposed to war and forced displacement are at elevated risk for emotional, behavioral, and cognitive difficulties. However, child outcomes may be shaped not only by direct trauma exposure but also by the psychological functioning of caregivers and stress within the parent-child relationship. The present mixed-methods study examined whether parenting stress was associated with the relationship between maternal posttraumatic stress symptoms and child psychological and cognitive outcomes among Syrian refugee families living in Mardin, Türkiye. Methods Participants were 200 Syrian refugee mother-child dyads with children aged 6-11 years. Mothers completed measures of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PCL-5), parenting stress (PSI-SF), depressive symptoms (BDI-II), anxiety symptoms (GAD-7), and child emotional and behavioral problems (CBCL/6-18). Children completed the Stroop Color-Word Test assessing inhibitory control and selective attention. Mediation analyses were conducted using bootstrapped indirect effects while controlling for maternal depression, maternal anxiety, child age, and child gender. A purposeful subsample of 30 dyads participated in semi-structured qualitative interviews exploring trauma experiences, parenting stress, attachment-related behaviors, and child emotional and cognitive functioning. Results Maternal posttraumatic stress symptoms were positively associated with parenting stress, child emotional and behavioral problems, and poorer child executive functioning. Parenting stress significantly mediated the association between maternal PTSD symptoms and CBCL Total Problems, indirect effect = 0.12, 95% CI [0.058, 0.196], and also mediated the association between maternal PTSD symptoms and Stroop interference, indirect effect = 0.052, 95% CI [0.012, 0.103]. Secondary analyses demonstrated significant indirect effects for both internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Qualitative findings converged with the quantitative results and showed that maternal trauma-related distress, emotional exhaustion, irritability, and inconsistent responsiveness were reflected in children's fear, withdrawal, dysregulation, separation distress, and attentional difficulties. Protective factors included maternal warmth, school support, supportive relationships, religious coping, and future-oriented hope. Conclusions The findings suggest that parenting stress may represent an important relational pathway linking maternal trauma-related distress with children's emotional, behavioral, and cognitive functioning in refugee families. Interventions targeting refugee child mental health may benefit from simultaneously addressing caregiver trauma symptoms, parenting stress, and the broader relational environment in which children develop and recover.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Comprehensive assessment and identification of the relational pathways (parenting stress) linking maternal trauma to child outcomes, with identification of protective factors including maternal warmth, school support, and religious coping
- Population
- 200 Syrian refugee mother-child dyads with children aged 6-11 years living in Mardin, Türkiye; subsample of 30 dyads for qualitative interviews
Key finding
Maternal PTSD symptoms positively associated with parenting stress, child emotional and behavioral problems, and poorer executive functioning