Parental post-traumatic stress, overprotective parenting, and emotional and behavioural problems for children with critical congenital heart disease
Linda G. McWhorter, Jennifer Christofferson, Trent Neely, Aimee K. Hildenbrand, Melissa A. Alderfer, Amy Randall, Anne E. Kazak, Erica Sood
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To examine relationships amongst parental post-traumatic stress symptoms, parental post-traumatic growth, overprotective parenting, and child emotional/behavioural problems in families of children with critical CHD. METHOD: Sixty parents (15 fathers) of children aged 1-6 completed online questionnaires assessing parental post-traumatic stress symptoms and post-traumatic growth, overprotective parenting, and child emotional/behavioural problems. Bivariate correlations and mediational analyses were conducted to evaluate overprotective parenting as a mediator of the association between parental post-traumatic stress symptoms and child emotional/behavioural problems. RESULTS: Parents reported significant post-traumatic stress symptoms, with over 18% meeting criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder and 70% meeting criteria in one or more clusters. Parental post-traumatic growth was positively correlated with intrusion (r = .32, p = .01) but it was not associated with other post-traumatic stress symptom clusters. Parental post-traumatic stress symptoms were positively associated with overprotective parenting (r = .37, p = .008) and total child emotional/behavioural problems (r = .29, p = .037). Overprotective parenting was positively associated with total child emotional/behavioural problems (r = .45, p = .001) and fully mediated the relationship between parental post-traumatic stress symptoms and child emotional/behavioural problems. CONCLUSION: Overprotective parenting mediates the relationship between parental post-traumatic stress symptoms and child emotional and behavioural problems in families of children with CHD. Both parental post-traumatic stress symptoms and overprotective parenting may be modifiable risk factors for poor child outcomes. This study highlights the need for interventions to prevent or reduce parental post-traumatic stress symptoms and to promote effective parenting following a diagnosis of CHD.