Long‐term associations between early attachment and parenting and adolescent susceptibility to post‐traumatic distress in a South African high‐risk sample

Abstract

BackgroundIt has been proposed that children and young people living in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs) are not only exposed more frequently to trauma but also have a higher likelihood of encountering traumas of greater severity than those living in high‐income countries (HICs). This may lead to higher rates of post‐traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). However, developmental pathways to risk or resilience after trauma exposure in LMICs are underresearched.MethodsWe examined early parenting and attachment as potentially important formative factors for later stress reactivity in a longitudinal cohort of South African children (N = 449). Parenting and attachment were assessed at child age 18 months, and interpersonal trauma exposure, PTSS and parenting stress were measured at 13 years (N = 333; core sample with data on all measures: N = 213). Following a vulnerability‐stress approach, separate regression models were run to investigate whether parent–child attachment at 18 months, parental sensitivity and intrusiveness during play at 12 months, and current parenting stress at 13 years, interacted with adolescents' extent of interpersonal trauma exposure to predict their PTSS levels at 13 years.ResultsWe found no predictive effects of either early attachment or current parenting stress in relation to child PTSS. There was some evidence for predictive influences of parental early intrusiveness and sensitivity on adolescent outcomes, though associations were unexpectedly positive for the latter. No interaction effects supporting a vulnerability‐stress model were found.ConclusionsOverall, we found limited evidence that elements of the early parent–child environment predict child risk/resilience to trauma in LMIC children. Future studies should include more frequent assessments of relevant constructs to capture changes over time and consider further what comprises adaptive parenting in high‐risk contexts.