The Association Between Parent PTSD/Depression Symptoms and Child PTSD Symptoms: A Meta-Analysis

Objective The present article presents a meta-analysis of studies examining the association between parent posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)/depression symptoms and child PTSD symptoms (PTSS) after a child's exposure to a traumatic event while considering multiple moderating factors to explain heterogeneity of effect sizes. Methods 35 studies were included: 32 involving the association between parent and child PTSS and 9 involving the association between parent depression and child PTSS. Results Across existing studies, both parent and child PTSS (r = 0.31) and parent depression and child PTSS (r = 0.32) yielded significant effect sizes. Parent gender, assessment type (interview vs. questionnaire), differences in assessment type for parents and children, and study design (cross-sectional vs. longitudinal) moderated the relationship between parent and child PTSS. Conclusions The current findings confirm the associations between parental posttraumatic responses and child PTSS and highlight important moderating factors to include in future studies of child PTSS.