De invloed van traumatische ervaringen op de ouder-kind interactie binnen een vluchtelingen en asielzoekers populatie.
Summary
"The influence of several traumatic events, experienced by the refugee parent, on the parent-child interaction”
Objectives: This research focuses on the impact of traumatic events, experienced by refugee parents, on the parent-child interaction. An in depth analysis on the experience of rape or sexual abuse of the refugee mother and the experience of physical violence like a combat situation, a serious injury or physical torture of the refugee parent and the way these experiences have influenced the parent-child interaction will be provided.
Methods: A number of 41 asylum seekers and refugees participated in this research with their son or daughter (n=41). Refugees and asylum seekers that met all criteria were asked to participate in the research by therapistsof the foundation Centrum ’45. There was a non-response of three people (n=3). The results were obtained by the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ-events) and the Emotional Availability Scale (EAS).
Results: The cause-effect relation between the total of traumatic events experienced by the refugee parent and the parent-child interaction has proved to be negative (p=-,047). As the parent experiences more traumatic events, he or she is more intrusive (p=,029) and hostile (p=,001) towards his or her child. No cause-effect relation was found between the experience of traumatic events, seeing another person experiencing a traumatic event and the parent-child interaction (p=,276). No cause-effect relation was found between the experience of rape or sexual abuse by the refugee mother and the parent-child interaction (p=,387). Their seems to be no difference between the having or not-having of an experience of rape or sexual abuse by the refugee mother on the parent-child interaction (t=,884, p=,194). And there seems to be no cause-effect relation between the experience of physical violence and the parent-child interaction (p=-,737). There also does not seem to be a difference between the having or not-having of an experience of physical violence on the parent-child interaction (p=,737).
Conclusion: Overall, it can be said that traumatic experiences have a significant effect on the parent-child interaction, but causality should be interpreted carefully. The sample in this study might have been too small to find significant results with the specific traumatic experiences. Therefore the research on trauma, refugees and asylum seekers should be continued, to be able to make helpful interventions to refugee parents, when they experience problems in their parent-child interaction. Important factors that should be included in future research could be the seriousness of the traumatic experience, the cross-cultural differences and interpretations of the consequences of a traumatic event, the posttraumatic stress symptoms the parent experiences, the coping styles of the refugee or asylum seeker and 'new stressors' like integration in the host country, housing and obtaining a residence permit.