Other Lab Projects
Collaborations, Individual Projects, and Masters' Theses
We explore diverse research areas related to various aspects of family functioning, adversity, and trauma. Check out what our lab members have been up to!
Deployment and Post-Deployment Predictors of Dyadic Adjustment in Military Couples in Long-Term Relationships
Bonnie Woodward
This project is a secondary data analysis being conducted in collaboration with Dr. Jennifer Vasterling, principal investigator of the Neurocognition Deployment Health Study, Cooperative Studies Program #566, and Family Adaptation to OIF Deployment. The study sample is comprised of military service members and veterans in long-term romantic relationships who were followed from before warzone deployment to several years after the deployment. The purpose of the study is to understand how stress about life back home (e.g., stress about a romantic relationship, missing a child's milestones, or personal finances) during warzone deployment impacts post-deployment PTSD severity among those exposed to trauma, and how post-deployment PTSD severity relates to the quality of military service member/veteran intimate relationships several years later. We found that experiencing stress about home life while deployed to a warzone led to more severe PTSD following warzone deployment, as well as to more intimate relationship problems years later; however, PTSD severity shortly after deployment did not affect intimate relationships years later. Thus, helping service members manage their homefront stress while deployed to a warzone may be one way to support their future psychological and intimate relationship health.
Trauma Symptoms, Social Support Processes, and Relationship Satisfaction in Newlywed Couples with Histories of Child Maltreatment
Rebecca Nguyen
This project is a secondary data analysis being conducted in collaboration with Dr. David DiLillo's lab at University of Nebraska- Lincoln. The study sample is composed of newlywed couples where both partners had a history of childhood neglect and/or abuse. These couples were observed for the first two years of their marriage. The purpose of the study is to examine how couples' trauma symptoms might negatively impact relationship quality by amplifying negative social support processes. Specifically, this project examines social support provision and confiding frequency as mechanisms through which both partners’ initial trauma symptom severity may impact relationship quality two years later. We found that higher trauma symptom severity predicted lower marital satisfaction, and negative social support provision predicted lower confiding frequency, among selves and partners. Further, effects emerged such that confiding frequency predicted each person’s (but not their partner’s) relationship satisfaction.
Daily Social Support and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms Among Mothers with a History of Interpersonal Trauma: Examining Bidirectional Associations
Emma Archibald
The purpose of the study is to examine the bidirectional associations between daily social support satisfaction and PTSD among mothers with young children who have experienced interpersonal trauma. This project uses data from the Project COPE research study. While the longitudinal relationship between social support and PTSD among women exposed to interpersonal trauma is documented, the day-to-day interactions, particularly among mothers, remain understudied. Understanding these daily interactions is essential for developing effective parenting interventions that address PTSD symptoms and enhance social support. The participants include mothers of toddlers (ages 2-4) with clinically significant PTSD from Maryland, Virginia, and DC. The primary components of the larger study include diagnostic interviews for depression and PTSD, a self-report survey, and an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) procedure, with the current study focusing on the EMA. We aim to 1) assess the association between daily PTSD symptoms and same-day social support satisfaction, 2) explore the bidirectional relationship across days, and 3) determine which pathway (social support predicting PTSD or PTSD predicting social support) is stronger.
Maternal PTSD Symptom Severity as a Mediator Between Parental Discrimination and Child Problems
Rony Ngamliya-Ndam
This project is a secondary data analysis stemming from the Project COPE study. The study is comprised of 64 mothers with 2–4-year-old children who reported histories of interpersonal trauma and met criteria for PTSD via a diagnostic interview. Given the association between child problem behaviors and parental PTSD, and parental experiences of discrimination and greater parental mental health distress, the purpose of the study is to explore whether discrimination indirectly predicts child problems through greater experiences of PTSD symptoms. We found that maternal PTSD severity significantly mediates the association between parental experiences of discrimination and child problem behaviors.
Thus, child-focused interventions should also address parental distress resulting from both traumatic and systemic stressors to best support parent-child functioning.
Emotion Regulation and Daily Parenting Behaviors in Mothers Exposed to Interpersonal Trauma
Anastassia Sorokina
This project is a secondary data analysis using data from the Project COPE study. The study sample is comprised of mothers with 2-to-4-year-old children who met criteria for PTSD. The purpose of this study was to examine if cognitive reappraisal (reframing thoughts) or expressive suppression (hiding or holding back emotions) was related to lower use of overreactive or harsh parenting behaviors on a daily basis. We found that reframing thoughts, but not suppressing emotions, is associated with less harsh parenting practices. Thus, our findings support the use of cognitive-behavioral interventions that teach mothers with PTSD to reappraise their negative cognitions.