Early Fatherhood after a History of Childhood Maltreatment Trauma: Relationships, Experiences, and Intervention Needs
Granner, Josie
2022
Abstract
Purpose: The overarching purpose of this dissertation is to reach a deeper understanding of how violence is transmitted through fathers in intergenerational patterns, and to explore how this transmission can be prevented. Background: Child maltreatment trauma (CMT) is a significant public health problem with intergenerational patterns. Fathers with a history of CMT are more likely to have mental health problems associated with poorer early parenting outcomes, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. CMT can also have complex effects on adult survivors, including anger expression, interpersonal reactivity, substance use, and greater difficulty maintaining intimate relationships. Having a history of CMT puts fathers at higher risk for maltreating their own children due to these long-term effects and the poor role modeling of their own parents. Parenting stress is a group of adverse reactions to the demands of parenthood. Higher parenting stress is associated with increased risk of CMT perpetration and poorer parenting quality. New fathers with a history of CMT may have higher parenting stress on average. The perinatal period is an ideal time to address the unique needs of fathers who have a history of CMT and help them reduce their parenting stress. However, the experiences and intervention needs of fathers who have a history of CMT are not well-understood, precluding the development of much-needed trauma-specific fathering interventions to prevent CMT. Methods: We used an internet survey leading to purposive sampling for individual interviews with a subsample of 15 new fathers who had a history of CMT. Our purpose was addressed with three aims: 1) Synthesize a trauma-informed theory of paternal involvement that takes into account intergenerational patterns of CMT and psychiatric vulnerability, and can inform research and interventions to improve fathering and mitigate CMT. 2) Compare first-time fathers of children under age two who have a history of CMT and those who do not using survey data, and to examine predictors of parenting stress (a likely predictor of CMT perpetration risk as well as desire for a parenting intervention). 3) Explore the perinatal intervention desires of fathers who have a history of CMT in terms of content and format through content analysis of transcripts of semi-structured interviews. Results: Through our synthesized theory, we propose that increasing both quantity (responsibility, accessibility, and engagement) and quality (self-regulation, mental health, and sensitivity) of paternal involvement improves child wellbeing. Through survey data analysis, we found that a history of CMT, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and depression were significantly associated with parenting stress for new first-time fathers. When interpersonal reactivity, anger expression and coparenting quality were added to the model, these were even stronger predictors of parenting stress than PTSD and depression. During qualitative interviews, fathers who have a history of CMT emphasized difficulty navigating relationships, often related to their past trauma. Many reported that difficulties coparenting, and the absence of high-quality fathering role models increased both their parenting stress and their desire for interventions. Fathers expressed desire for an intervention targeting parenting skills, mental health, and providing fathering role modeling. Preferences varied by person, and many fathers requested a program that can be tailored to their specific needs. Conclusion: In addition to advancing maltreatment prevention science, this research lays groundwork for the creation of interventions for new fathers that could help interrupt intergenerational cycles of violence and reduce rates of CMT.Deep Blue DOI
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child maltreatment early parenting fatherhood posttraumatic stress complex trauma perinatal
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