Caregiver–adolescent co-reminiscing and adolescents’ individual recollections of a devastating tornado: Associations with enduring posttraumatic stress symptoms

Abstract

Although disaster-related posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) typically decrease in intensity over time, some youth continue to report elevated levels of PTSS many years after the disaster. The current study examines two processes that may help to explain the link between disaster exposure and enduring PTSS: caregiver emotion socialization and youth recollection qualities. One hundred and twenty-two youth (ages 12 to 17) and their female caregivers who experienced an EF-4 tornado co-reminisced about the event, and adolescents provided independent recollections between 3 and 4 years after the tornado. Adolescent individual transcripts were coded for coherence and negative personal impact, qualities that have been found to contribute to meaning making. Parent–adolescent conversations were coded for caregiver egocentrism, a construct derived from the emotion socialization literature to reflect the extent to which the caregiver centered the conversation on her own emotions and experiences. Egocentrism predicted higher youth PTSS, and this association was mediated by the coherence of adolescents’ narratives. The association between coherence and PTSS was stronger for youth who focused more on the negative personal impacts of the tornado event during their recollections. Results suggest that enduring tornado-related PTSS may be influenced in part by the interplay of caregiver emotion socialization practices and youth recollection qualities.

Why Family Communication Matters: the Role of Co-rumination and Topic Avoidance in Understanding Post-Disaster Mental Health

“…A more recent, mixed-methods examination of communication demonstrates its role in understanding lingering distress post-disaster. Hendrickson et al (2019) had parents and children age 12-17 years engage in a co-reminiscing task about their experiences during a deadly tornado. They found that a parent communication style where the caregiver focused the conversation on their own emotions, perceptions, and experiences, at the expense of their child's ability to share, was significantly related to PTSS assessed years post-disaster.…”

Parent-Adolescent Reminiscing and Youth Psychopathology: A Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Investigation

“…Relatedly, a conflict event could be too innocuous to induce the level of emotional intensity and types of reminiscing qualities that may implicated in the development of youth rumination and depression. For example, in a parent-adolescent reminiscing study investigating the development of adolescent PTSS symptoms after a traumatic event, parent egocentrism (i.e., parent self-focused orientation) during parent-adolescent reminiscing about the traumatic event was related to adolescent experiences of greater PTSS symptoms (Hendrickson et al, 2019).…”

“…in development across childhood and beyond. Robust findings show that children's engagement in reminiscing conversations with their caregivers improves their autobiographical memory and narrative skill, their ability to understand and manage their emotions, and other skills that lay the foundations for psychological wellbeing (Fivush, Haden, & Reese, 2006;Hendrickson, Abel, Vernberg, McDonald, & Lochman, 2019;Salmon & Reese, 2016).…”

“…In a recent longitudinal study (Hendrickson, Abel, Vernberg, McDonald, & Lochman, 2019), aspects of parent-adolescent (ages 12-17) reminiscing conversations about a past traumatic event was investigated in relation to an adolescent's enduring experience of post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). The reminiscing conversations were coded for parent "egocentrism", defined as capturing the extent to which a caregiver focused on their own experiences (i.e., emotions, perceptions) of the event at the expense of the adolescent sharing their perspective of event details.…”

“…Recently, research has emerged investigating the relationship between parent reminiscing behaviors and youth psychological outcomes. For example, a study examining the relationship between caregiver and adolescent reminiscing qualities and adolescent experience of post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) following a natural disaster found that caregivers who, during reminiscing with their adolescent, displayed more egocentrism (i.e., a tendency to redirect the focus of conversation to their own emotion states and experiences at the expense of the adolescent's experiences and perspectives), had adolescents who reported greater PTSS (Hendrickson, Abel, Vernberg, McDonald & Lochman, 2019). Collectively, the findings provide support for a relationship between certain kinds of mother-child reminiscing qualities, particularly about negative experiences, and child and youth emotion understanding and management.…”