Protective parenting practices among mothers living with HIV and their adolescent children: a qualitative study

Abstract

Growing up with a mother living with HIV (MLH) is a unique experience for adolescents. Children in these families often thrive; however, many also exhibit behavioral health problems including HIV risk behaviors. Under a lens of youth risk reduction, we examined the role of protective parenting practices in their lives including parent-child communication about sex, parent-child relationship quality, parental monitoring, and mother-to-child HIV disclosure. For this exploratory study, we conducted four focus groups with MLH (n = 15) and 13 in-depth interviews with HIV-negative adolescent children of MLH. Participants were primarily African American and recruited from clinics and non-profit organizations in the southeastern United States. A thematic analysis of focus group and in-depth interview data revealed that mothers' prior experiences with HIV and HIV-related risks often underlie their strengths as parents -for example, confidence in their ability to discuss sexual risk topics with their children as well as enhanced motivation to monitor their children's whereabouts and exposure to risky environments. Nonetheless, many MLH face challenges, including problems with mother-to-child HIV disclosure and relationship disruptions, which likely hinder protective parenting. Implications of our findings include specific recommendations for adapting effective and culturally-informed prevention interventions for families affected by maternal HIV infection.

Parenting in matched pairs of women of color experiencing intimate partner violence and living with and without HIV

“…This finding suggests that the disproportionate burden of having an HIV diagnosis along with exposure to IPV may not affect mothers' capacity to engage in positive parenting strategies, including involvement, warmth, and positive praise. The lack of an association between depressive symptoms and positive parenting supports existing research demonstrating that mothers who experience adversity are able to successfully engage in parenting strengths, including positive discipline, communication, and protectiveness (Letourneau et al, 2007;Tarantino et al, 2020). Furthermore, this finding underscores that positive parenting functions differently from negative parenting, highlighting the need to obtain balanced assessments of positive and negative parenting practices.…”

“…For example, a longitudinal study of South African mothers revealed that rates of childhood resilience were similar across children of mothers living with and without HIV (Rotheram‐Borus et al., 2019). Other qualitative research has indicated that mothers living with HIV may demonstrate unique parenting strengths, including communication, protectiveness, and awareness of risk (Tarantino et al., 2020). Such findings suggest that living with HIV may not always serve as an additional burden with regard to parenting.…”