Parental War Trauma and Child Distress: Mediation Role of Parenting Styles, Attachment and Family Functioning

The purpose of this study was to examine whether there was a direct effect of parents' traumatic war experiences on the child's mental health, or whether the effect was achieved through the attachment, family dynamics and parenting styles. The sample consisted of 76 triads (fathers, mothers and children) from the territory of Kosovo and Metohija. The study results show that the effect of the father's war trauma is mediated entirely by the variables Closeness/Dependence and Authority, while for the mother, it is the dimension Closeness/Dependence that achieves partial mediation. The results are discussed in context of trauma-focused and psychosocial approaches, and in the context of attachment theory.