Family emotional climate in childhood and risk of PTSD in adult children of Australian Vietnam veterans

• Published in: Psychiatry research 2020-12, Vol.294, p.113509-113509, Article 113509
• Main Authors: Gunter, Helen N., O'Toole, Brian I., Dadds, Mark M., Catts, Stanley V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Adult Children - psychology; Attachment; Australia - epidemiology; Child of Impaired Parents - psychology; Emotions - physiology; Epidemiology; Families; Family emotional climate; Family Relations - psychology; Fathers - psychology; Female; Humans; Intergenerational transmission; Male; Middle Aged; PTSD; Random Allocation; Risk Factors; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - diagnosis; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - epidemiology; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - psychology; Veterans - psychology; Vietnam Conflict; Vietnam veterans; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0165-1781; 1872-7123
• DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113509

•Children's attachment to their Vietnam veteran father is associated with his daughters’ but not sons’ PTSD.•Warm and positive children's attachment to their mother is associated with reduced PTSD and depression for sons and daughters.•A less positive emotional climate while growing up increases the risk of PTSD symptoms in daughters.•Sons’ negative relationship with their mothers increases the severity of numbing, avoidance and hyperarousal symptoms of PTSD.•Sex differences in parent-child dyads have differential effects on offspring PTSD. The mechanisms of intergenerational transmission of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from parent to child are not yet known. We hypothesised that the mechanisms involved in trauma transmission may be dependent upon sex specific caregiver-child dyads and these dyads may have a differential impact on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A non-clinical sample of adult offspring (N = 306) of Australian Vietnam veterans was interviewed in-person to assess the relationship between family emotional climate and caregiver attachment with the offspring's adult experience of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Attachment to the veteran father was not associated with sons’ PTSD, but was for daughters. Attachment to mother was associated with PTSD and depression for both sons and daughters, with positive and warm attachment related to reduced PTSD diagnosis and its symptom clusters. A less positive family emotional environment was related to increased PTSD symptoms in daughters, while for sons a negative relationship style with their mother was related to increased frequency and severity of numbing/avoidance behaviours and hyperarousal symptoms. The findings suggest that sex-related differences in caregiver-child dyads do have a differential impact on PTSD symptom domains and may be one environmental mechanism by which trauma is transmitted across generations.