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Cited by 236Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentPosttraumatic Stress Disorder ResearchChild Abuse and Trauma

Parenting in Times of War: A Meta-Analysis and Qualitative Synthesis of War Exposure, Parenting, and Child Adjustment

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Eltanamly, Hend, Leijten, Patty, Jak, Suzanne, Overbeek, Geertjan·2021·Trauma, Violence, & Abuse
DOI 10.1177/1524838019833001PMC PMC7675766
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Abstract

This mixed methods systematic review and meta-analysis sheds more light on the role parenting practices play in children’s adjustment after war exposure. Specifically, we quantitatively examined whether parenting behavior explained some of the well-known associations between war exposure and children’s adjustment. In addition, we meta-synthesized qualitative evidence answering when and why parenting practices might change for war-affected families. We searched nine electronic databases and contacted experts in the field for relevant studies published until March 2018, identifying 4,147 unique publications that were further screened by title and abstract, resulting in 158 publications being fully screened. By running a meta-analytic structural equation model with 38 quantitative studies ( N = 54,372, M age = 12.00, SD age = 3.54), we found that more war-exposed parents showed less warmth and more harshness toward their children, which partly mediated the association between war exposure and child adjustment, that is, post-traumatic stress symptoms, depression and anxiety, social problems, externalizing behavior, and lower positive outcomes (e.g., quality of life). War exposure was not associated with parents’ exercise of behavioral control. By meta-synthesizing 10 qualitative studies ( N = 1,042; age range = 0−18), we found that the nature of war-related trauma affected parenting differently. That is, parents showed harshness, hostility, inconsistency, and less warmth in highly dangerous settings and more warmth and overprotection when only living under threat. We conclude that it is both how much and what families have seen that shapes parenting in times of war.

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  • Across conflict-affected populations, exposure to active combat or chronic threat has been associated with harsh, inconsistent, diminished warmth, or overprotective parenting patterns.

    “Across conflict-affected populations, exposure to active combat or chronic threat has been associated with harsh, inconsistent, diminished warmth, or overprotective parenting patterns (113–115).”

    From Epigenetic changes associated with multi-generational trauma: characterization, mechanisms, and therapeutics (2026) · cites this paper as [113]

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Eltanamly, H., Leijten, P., Jak, S., & Overbeek, G.
Affiliations
University of Amsterdam (NL)
Corresponding author
Eltanamly, Hend
ORCID
Venue
Trauma, Violence, & Abuse
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2019-03-10
Volume
22
Issue
1
Pages
147-160
ISSN
  • 1524-8380 (ISSN-L)
  • 1552-8324
DOI
10.1177/1524838019833001
PMC
PMC7675766
OpenAlex
W2922528333
Cited by
236
References
10
Citations by year
2026: 46 · 2025: 54 · 2024: 46 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 27 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 11
FWCI
2.26
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Trauma Violence & Abuse (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (016.Vici.185.063)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
Keywords
war exposure, parenting practices, child adjustment, harsh parenting, parental warmth, posttraumatic stress symptoms, anxiety and depression, social problems, externalizing problems, quality of life, war trauma, parental behavioral control, overprotection
MeSH terms
War Exposure, Adolescent, Child, Child Rearing, Child, Preschool, Humans, Infant, Infant, Newborn, Parents, Quality of Life, Parenting

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