Session: Parenting in the Wake of Violence and Trauma (Society for Social Work and Research 22nd Annual Conference - Achieving Equal Opportunity, Equity, and Justice)

Trauma, including childhood, community, and gender-based violence, is a deeply impactful experience that often takes on new, altered, or even transformed meaning in the context of emerging experiences over the trauma survivor's lifespan. One such emerging experience is, for some, becoming a parent. This time of transition to parenthood is a critical time for both parents and young children, and can be an emotionally, physically, and relationally intense period - particularly for parents with a trauma history. Research on trauma survivors' experience of parenthood in the early years of their child's life is important in order to better serve families during this developmentally sensitive period. Coupling quantitative and qualitative methods is particularly helpful in reflecting the complexity of trauma survivors' experience and its impact on parenting in order to inform better prevention and intervention.

In this symposium, scholars from four institutions will share both qualitative and quantitative studies used to explore how survivors experience parenting and parenting intervention in the wake of violence and trauma, and to examine the relationship between experiences of trauma, maternal mental health, and parenting outcomes. In the first paper, authors lift the voices of homeless teenage parents adjusting to their new roles and coming to terms with earlier trauma. In the second paper, the relationship between maternal depressive symptoms and parental warmth is examined, particularly considering the moderating role of intimate partner abuse and coercion. The third paper focuses on associations between maternal drug dependence and parenting, which was largely attributable to mothers' experience of community and intimate partner violence. In the fourth paper, authors discuss participant and provider perspectives of a parenting intervention for mothers with extensive trauma histories who have misused substances and have young children. Together, these complementary papers offer insight into the experience of parenting in the context of a history of trauma, especially childhood, community, and gender-based violence, with implications for prevention and intervention in practice, policy, and future research.