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Cited by 13Migration, Health and TraumaMaternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and PostpartumFamily and Disability Support Research

The protective effects of social support and family functioning on parenting stress among Hispanic/Latino/a American immigrant parents with traumatic life experiences: A mediation analysis

Open access
Maru, Mihoko, Paris, Ruth, Simhi, Meital·2023·Infant Mental Health Journal
DOI 10.1002/imhj.22053PMC PMC10956510
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Abstract

Despite high rates of traumatic experiences reported among Hispanic/Latino/a immigrants in the U.S., the effect of post‐traumatic stress on parenting stress among Hispanic/Latino/a immigrant parents with young children has been overlooked. The present study tested the direct and indirect relationships of self‐reported maternal post‐traumatic stress symptoms on parenting stress, and the mediating role of protective factors among Hispanic/Latino/a mothers with young children. Baseline data collected from mothers participating in a community‐based child‐parent dyadic intervention were analyzed. Measures included the post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) Checklist, the Protective Factors Survey, and the Parenting Stress Index‐Short Form (PSI). The sample included 80 mothers with a child between ages 0–6 years. About 75% of these mothers were migrants from Central America. A multivariate regression analysis showed that maternal post‐traumatic stress symptoms predicted higher levels of PSI, and two protective factors (social support and family functioning/resilience) fully mediated the relationship between maternal post‐traumatic stress symptoms and PSI. Higher social support and family functioning/resiliency may have protective effects on Hispanic/Latino/a mothers with post‐traumatic stress, leading to lower levels of stress related to parenting. Findings underscore the importance of interventions that enhance access to social support and promote family functioning/resilience for Hispanic/Latino/a immigrant mothers with trauma histories to cope better with parenting stress.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1002/imhj.22053

Cites

95 of 95 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Claims the paper makes

2 of 9 cited sources checked · 0 supported · 0 flagged · accuracy not yet measured

  • Findingown data

    Concrete support was not significantly correlated with maternal post-traumatic stress symptoms in the sample.

    “Since PFS-NA and PFS-CS were not correlated with PCL, and thus did not meet the assumptions for the causal steps approach of mediation analysis (Baron & Kenny, 1986), they were not examined for further analysis.”
    • Also stated in: § DISCUSSION · plain
      “Two protective factors, concrete support and nurturing and attachment, did not significantly correlate with maternal post-traumatic stress symptoms, nor were mediators of post-traumatic stress symptoms on parenting stress.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
  • Findingown data

    The PCL remained a significant predictor of parenting stress in the model that included concrete support.

    “PCL remained a significant predictor for one of the models after the protective factor variable was entered into the model (Model 2 with Concrete Support as a predictor).”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
  • Findingown data

    Maternal post-traumatic stress symptoms were negatively correlated with social support in the sample.

    “Maternal post-traumatic stress symptoms also correlated negatively with family functioning/resiliency (r = −.33) and social support (r = −.40; See Table 2 for the full correlation table).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Findingown data

    In models with social support, family functioning/resiliency, and nurturing/attachment, PCL was no longer significant after the potential mediating variables were added.

    “In models 3, 4, and 5, however, PCL was no longer significant after the potential mediating variables were added.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
  • Findingown data

    Social support fully mediated the relationship between maternal post-traumatic stress symptoms and parenting stress in the sample.

    “two protective factors (social support and family functioning/resilience) fully mediated the relationship between maternal post-traumatic stress symptoms and PSI”
    • Also stated in: § Multivariate regression and mediation analyses · plain
      “Both PFS-SS (indirect effect = .236, p < .01; 95% CI = .09, .47) and PFS-FFR (indirect effect = .243, p < .01, 95% CI = .09, .47) fully mediated the relationship between PCL and PSI.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
    • Rests on an assumption: The cross-sectional associations reflect the hypothesized causal ordering from post-traumatic stress symptoms to protective factors to parenting stress.
    • Rests on an assumption: The mediation models are not confounded by unmeasured variables.
  • Classified as probably not a substantial claim. 23
  • May combine two claims. 4

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Premisecitation

    Experiences of forced displacement negatively impact aspects of healthy family functioning including communication and family cohesion among Southeast Asian American mothers with school-age children.

    “Experiences of forced displacement have been found to negatively impact aspects of healthy family functioning including communication and family cohesion among another immigrant population, Southeast Asian American mothers with school-age children (Sangalang et al., 2017).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim1 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Sangalang et al., 2017 source

      The Methods section defines family functioning to include parent-child communication and family cohesion, and the Results (section 3.2.2; page unavailable) find that maternal traumatic distress predicted poorer overall family functioning in Southeast Asian refugee families—but only when the children were foreign-born. The claim broadens this finding to forced displacement itself and to mothers with school-age children generally; the paper does not report separate effects on communication and cohesion. (LLM, conf=0.89)

      Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation

    Systemic issues such as linguistic and cultural barriers and discrimination contribute to acculturative stress among Hispanic/Latino/a immigrants, which can exacerbate mental health difficulties and result in increased social isolation.

    “Other systemic issues such as linguistic and cultural barriers and discrimination also contribute to acculturative stress among Hispanic/Latino/a immigrants (Lueck & Wilson, 2011) which can exacerbate mental health difficulties and thus, result in increased social isolation (Elmer & Stadtfeld, 2020).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim1 of 2 sources checked
    • cites Lueck & Wilson, 2011 source
    • cites Elmer & Stadtfeld, 2020 source

      The Discussion reports that students with more depressive symptoms spent less time in face-to-face interactions, supporting the link between mental health difficulties and social isolation. The study concerns undergraduate student cohorts, not Hispanic/Latino/a immigrants, and does not examine whether acculturative stress exacerbates mental health difficulties. The linguistic and cultural barriers and discrimination in the citing sentence are attributed to a different citation. (LLM, conf=0.87)

      Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Findingown data

    About 75% of the mothers in the sample were migrants from Central America.

    “About 75% of these motherswere migrants from Central America.”
    • Also stated in: § Sample characteristics · plain
      “A majority of the 80 mothers identified as migrants from Central America (76.3%)”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Findingown data

    On 13 of the 27 LSC-R items, at least half of participants reported the traumatic event happened before age 18.

    “However, our data showed that on 13 of the 27 LSC-R items, at least half of the participants responded that the traumatic event happened to them before the age of eighteen.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Findingown data

    Forty percent of the mothers scored in the at-risk for PTSD range.

    “PCL (M = 26.0, SD = 14.5, Min = 0, Max = 60, 40% scored in the “at risk for PTSD” range)”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Study design and conductown data

    The PFS family functioning/resiliency subscale had a Cronbach's alpha of .89 in the study data.

    “Cronbach alphas for each of the subscales were .62 (nurturing and attachment), .79 (concrete support), .79 (social support), and .89 (family functioning/resiliency).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Study design and conductown data

    The PCL-5 had internal consistency of .90 in the study data.

    “The internal consistency of the PCL measured with Cronbach’s alpha using the study data was .90.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Study design and conductown data

    The PFS concrete support subscale had a Cronbach's alpha of .79 in the study data.

    “Cronbach alphas for each of the subscales were .62 (nurturing and attachment), .79 (concrete support), .79 (social support), and .89 (family functioning/resiliency).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Study design and conductown data

    The PFS social support subscale had a Cronbach's alpha of .79 in the study data.

    “Cronbach alphas for each of the subscales were .62 (nurturing and attachment), .79 (concrete support), .79 (social support), and .89 (family functioning/resiliency).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Study design and conductown data

    The final sample size was 80 after excluding three individuals with no PFS items.

    “Three individuals did not have any items of the PFS completed, and therefore were excluded from analysis, making the final total sample size n = 80.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation

    The LSC-R has good criterion validity and test-retest reliability.

    “The LSC-R has good criterion validity and test-retest reliability (Wolfe & Kimerling, 1997).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Wolfe & Kimerling, 1997

      Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Study design and conductown data

    The PFS nurturing and attachment subscale had a Cronbach's alpha of .62 in the study data.

    “Cronbach alphas for each of the subscales were .62 (nurturing and attachment), .79 (concrete support), .79 (social support), and .89 (family functioning/resiliency).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Study design and conductown data

    The sample size provided sufficient power (.93) for simple mediation analyses.

    “A Monte Carlo power analysis was conducted using Schoemann et al’s (2017) web-based tool MCpowrMed which suggested that the sample size provided sufficient power (.93) for simple mediation analyses.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Schoemann et al’s (2017) source

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Premisecitation

    The PFS has been validated with a Hispanic/Latino/a sample of families.

    “The measure has also been validated with a Hispanic/Latino/a sample of families (Conrad-Hiebner et al., 2015).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Conrad-Hiebner et al., 2015 source

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Study design and conductreasoning

    All study instruments were self-report measures based solely on the participant parent's perception.

    “The study instruments collected were all self-report measures, and thus based solely on the perception of the participant parent.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Study design and conductown data

    The PSI total score had internal consistency of .90 in the study data.

    “The PSI total score had high internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = .90).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

    Study design and conductnone given

    Consent forms and measures were available in both English and Spanish, and interviews were conducted in participants' language of preference.

    “Consent forms and measures were available in both English and Spanish and interviews were conducted in participants’ language of preference.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Study design and conductnone given

    Agency interviewers obtained informed consent before measures were administered.

    “Agency interviewers obtained informed consent before measures were administered.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Premisecitation

    The centrality of family, known as familism or familismo, remains important for Hispanic/Latino/a immigrant families in the U.S.

    “The centrality of family, also known as familism or familismo (e.g., Sabogal et al., 1987), remains crucial for Hispanic/Latino/a immigrant families in the U.S., which further emphasizes the value of strong family functioning and social support.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Sabogal et al., 1987 source

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable).

    Interpretationown data

    The findings give empirical backing for guiding evidence-based interventions for families.

    “The findings provide empirical support to guide evidence-based interventions for families.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Study design and conductown data

    The evaluation measures were collected at baseline before participants began the CPP intervention.

    “The evaluation measures were collected as part of the assessment process at the beginning, before participants began the CPP intervention.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • May combine two claims.

    Interpretationown data

    Among Hispanic/Latino/a mothers, social support and healthy family functioning may lessen how parental trauma affects parenting stress, which can be harmful to the child.

    “For Hispanic/Latino/a mothers, social support and optimal family functioning have the potential to mitigate the impact of parental trauma on parenting stress that could potentially be harmful to the child.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Study design and conductnone given

    All research materials and procedures were reviewed and approved by the University Institutional Review Board.

    “All research materials and procedures were reviewed and approved by the University Institutional Review Board.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Premisecitation

    Brown et al. (2021) reported that social support mediated the link between violence exposure and trauma symptoms and parenting competence in a racially diverse U.S. sample of mothers with substance use disorders and PTSD.

    “Brown et al. (2021) presented similar results on how social support mediated the impact of violence exposure and trauma symptoms on another aspect of parenting—parenting competence—among a racially diverse sample of mothers in the U.S. with substance use disorders and PTSD.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Brown et al. (2021)

      Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

24 of 24

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The cross-sectional associations reflect the hypothesized causal ordering from post-traumatic stress symptoms to protective factors to parenting stress.

    “Finally, the type of data used for the mediation analysis was cross-sectional, and therefore, no temporal relationship could be established between the independent, mediator, and dependent variables.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The mediation models are not confounded by unmeasured variables.

    “No control variables were included for a few reasons. We considered including number of children, household income, and age of the parent as control variables given their potential relationship with our outcome of interest (e.g., Conger et al., 2002, 2010; Krieg, 2007; Oyarzún-Farías et al., 2021). None of these variables were correlated with the outcome variable.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The three individuals excluded for missing PFS data were missing completely at random, so their exclusion did not bias the results.

    “Three individuals did not have any items of the PFS completed, and therefore were excluded from analysis, making the final total sample size n = 80.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The sample of mothers recruited from a community agency is representative of Hispanic/Latino/a immigrant mothers with trauma histories.

    “This study used a convenience clinical sample drawn from a community-based family services agency offering programming to families who at the time of recruitment were seeking or referred for services. This may exclude those who are unable to access such services due to resources or lack of information, creating some degree of selection bias.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    There is no strong evidence that protective factors or parenting stress lead to post-traumatic stress.

    “On the other hand, there is no strong evidence that suggests that the inverse relationship—protective factors or parenting stress leading to post-traumatic stress—is likely.”
5 of 5

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. Abidin R. R., 1995, Parenting stress index, third edition: Professional manual
  2. 10.1016/j.pain.2010.04/005 · DOI

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Maru, M., Paris, R., & Simhi, M.
Affiliations
  • Boston Medical Center (US)
  • Boston University (US)
Corresponding author
Maru, Mihoko
ORCID
Venue
Infant Mental Health Journal
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2023-03-20
Volume
44
Issue
3
Pages
348-361
ISSN
  • 0163-9641 (ISSN-L)
  • 1097-0355
DOI
10.1002/imhj.22053
PMC
PMC10956510
OpenAlex
W4327898744
Cited by
13
References
85
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 3
FWCI
3.67
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor)
Locations
  • Infant Mental Health Journal (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
  • Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (U79SM063238)
  • National Institute of Mental Health (5T32MH116140‐05)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Migration, Health and Trauma
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Family and Disability Support Research
Keywords
parental stress, social support, family functioning, resilience, posttraumatic stress symptoms, Central American migrants, traumatic life experiences, mediation
MeSH terms
Mediation Analysis, Child, Preschool, Female, Hispanic or Latino, Humans

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