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.