Protective Factors for Parenting Among Fathers with PTSD Returning from Military Deployment

Introduction: Parents who reintegrate to civilian life from military deployment are at risk for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that may impair effective parenting practices. Prior research suggests that among parents returning from deployment to war, fathers who met clinical levels of PTSD were less responsive to a parent training intervention while mothers with and without PTSD equally benefitted (Chesmore et al. 2017). Effective parenting is crucial for healthy child adjustment, and the current study aims to examine correlates of positive parenting strategies among fathers with clinical levels of PTSD symptoms to better tailor supports to these individuals upon reintegration.

Method: The current study includes military families who participated in a randomized controlled trial of a parenting intervention known as After Deployment, Adaptive Parenting Tools (ADAPT). Both intra- and inter-individual factors are protective for PTSD risk, and this study examined whether these factors protect parenting in the presence of PTSD. At baseline, fathers completed four self-report scales that assessed PTSD symptoms, dyadic adjustment, perceived social support, and emotion regulation. Fathers completed a behavioral (Go-No Go) task that assessed executive function (inhibitory control). To examine father parenting practices, coded observations of well-validated structured Family Interaction Tasks yielded indicators of 1) problem solving outcome; 2) harsh discipline; 3) positive involvement; 4) skill encouragement; 5) monitoring.

Results: Among the 282 fathers who were eligible for participation in the ADAPT intervention and had baseline data, 42 (15%) met clinical levels for PTSD. Preliminary results suggest that fathers with PTSD reported significantly (p<.05) lower dyadic adjustment, perceived social support, and emotion regulation than those without PTSD. Analyses are currently underway to examine the impact of these factors on observed father parenting. Controlling for demographic and military covariates, regression analyses will be used to examine whether stronger dyadic adjustment, perceived social support, emotion regulation, and executive function are associated with effective positive parenting strategies and whether these factors will differentially account for the five indicators of effective parenting.

Conclusion: The results of this study will have significant implications on how to best inform preventative interventions for fathers with PTSD returning from deployment. By examining multiple protective factors and their relationships to parenting quality, this study will elucidate targets of intervention that can be leveraged to better tailor preventative interventions that effectively support fathers with PTSD to engage in positive parenting.