Longitudinal associations between parental trauma-related symptoms and adolescent emotion regulation: a three-wave dyadic analysis.
- 1Department of Psychological and Family Counseling, College of Educational Sciences, Jadara University, Irbid, Jordan.
- 2Department of Special Education, Faculty of Educational Sciences, Jadara University, Irbid, Jordan.
Abstract
Introduction
Intergenerational trauma research has often treated transmission as unidirectional and static, overlooking dyadic and reciprocal processes. This study applied a three-wave longitudinal Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) to examine bidirectional associations between parental trauma-related symptoms and adolescent emotion regulation (ER) difficulties.Methods
A total of 247 parent-adolescent dyads from Syrian refugee and Jordanian host-community families in Jordan completed three waves over six months. Parents reported lifetime trauma at T1; both parents and adolescents reported ER difficulties at T1, T2, and T3. Distinguishable-dyad APIMs estimated autoregressive, actor, and partner effects with FIML and covariates.Results
Parental trauma at T1 significantly predicted offspring ER difficulties at T2 (β = 0.23), mediated longitudinally by parent ER at T2. Offspring ER at T1 also predicted parent ER at T2 (β = 0.12), but this child-driven effect did not persist to T3. Refugee status did not moderate the transmission paths.Discussion
Intergenerational trauma appears to operate as a dynamically co-constructed dyadic process. Findings support process-focused, dyadic interventions rather than treating adolescents in isolation.
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BibTeX
@article{maberah2026longitudinal,
title = {{Longitudinal associations between parental trauma-related symptoms and adolescent emotion regulation: a three-wave dyadic analysis.}},
author = {Shooroq Maberah and Mohammed Abu Al-Rub},
journal = {Frontiers in psychology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1882113},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42908853},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Longitudinal associations between parental trauma-related symptoms and adolescent emotion regulation: a three-wave dyadic analysis.
AU - Shooroq Maberah
AU - Mohammed Abu Al-Rub
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/07
JO - Frontiers in psychology
DO - 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1882113
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42908853
AB - Introduction Intergenerational trauma research has often treated transmission as unidirectional and static, overlooking dyadic and reciprocal processes. This study applied a three-wave longitudinal Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) to examine bidirectional associations between parental trauma-related symptoms and adolescent emotion regulation (ER) difficulties.Methods A total of 247 parent-adolescent dyads from Syrian refugee and Jordanian host-community families in Jordan completed three waves over six months. Parents reported lifetime trauma at T1; both parents and adolescents reported ER difficulties at T1, T2, and T3. Distinguishable-dyad APIMs estimated autoregressive, actor, and partner effects with FIML and covariates.Results Parental trauma at T1 significantly predicted offspring ER difficulties at T2 (β = 0.23), mediated longitudinally by parent ER at T2. Offspring ER at T1 also predicted parent ER at T2 (β = 0.12), but this child-driven effect did not persist to T3. Refugee status did not moderate the transmission paths.Discussion Intergenerational trauma appears to operate as a dynamically co-constructed dyadic process. Findings support process-focused, dyadic interventions rather than treating adolescents in isolation.
SN - 1664-1078
ER -