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Prevalence and Potential Buffers of Intergenerational Trauma in African American and Latinx Parent-Child Dyads

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Prevalence and Potential Buffers of Intergenerational Trauma in African American and Latinx Parent-Child Dyads Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 2019 Prevalence and Potential Buffers of Intergenerational Trauma in African American and Latinx Parent-Child Dyads Kandace Thomas Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the Developmental Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Thomas, Kandace, "Prevalence and Potential Buffers of Intergenerational Trauma in African American and Latinx Parent-Child Dyads" (2019). Dissertations. 3373. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/3373 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 2019 Kandace Thomas LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO PREVALENCE AND POTENTIAL BUFFERS OF INTERGENERATIONAL TRAUMA IN AFRICAN AMERICAN AND LATINX PARENT-CHILD DYADS A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY PROGRAM IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT BY KANDACE THOMAS CHICAGO, IL MAY 2019 Copyright by Kandace Thomas, 2019 All rights reserved. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A dissertation, like any other big project, is never a solo endeavor. It takes a team of people working closely with the student, teaching the student, and supporting the student to accomplish the task. There were many people who served in all of these roles for me. Central to the completion and success of this dissertation is my advisor and committee chair Amanda J. Moreno. Amanda has the spirit and substance of a scholar mentor and friend. She continually and consistently mentored this process, actively tutored me, and financially supported this work. Most importantly, Amanda truly believed in this project; she nurtured my interest and helped me trust this bumpy process. Along with Amanda, I would like to thank my committee members, Jon Korfmacher, Marva L. Lewis, and Noni Gaylord-Harden. It has been an honor to work with and learn from your expertise and knowledge. It has been especially notable to work with Jon and Marva, both of whom I’ve had the privilege of working with in other capacities and have been able to extend our relationship with this project. This dissertation developed from my deep interest and commitment to further understand intergenerational trauma and its potential buffers. This interest solidified while working with Amanda when she was applying for the United States Department of Education I3 Grant which funded the Calm Classroom Kindergarten - Second Grade (K-2nd grade; CCK2) Research Project. As Amanda’s student, I was involved with CCK2 from the very beginning and was able to build off it to develop my own research study. As part of the CCK2 team, I contributed to the iii curriculum, facilitated mindfulness in two schools over three years, and developed and led the Family Engagement work. I am so grateful for the K-2nd grade students I learned from every Monday. I continue to be inspired by their grit, humor and tenderness. I thank their parents and caregivers who attended CCK2 Family Engagement Events to learn more about our work integrating mindfulness into their schools, and especially thank those parents and caregivers who participated in the CCK2 Parent Study, this dissertation. Their voices and faces will forever be etched in my memory. I am thankful for the support and friendship of the CCK2 team, Lisa Wartemberg, Maria Kontoudakis, and Adenia Linker, and all of the CCK2 Facilitators for their support with this project. Thank you Stephen Baker, Carolyn Vessel and Cynthia Cook-Connelly for graciously offering me a space to collect data. Stephen, thank you for all of your help with REDCap and the University of Chicago’s Institutional Review Board. Your time and generosity is greatly appreciated. Thank you Erika Gustafson, David Doan, and notably Malika Gujrati for all of your help with quantitative analysis. I thank Jeanette Banashak and Yvette Camacho for your careful work translating materials into Spanish. Thank you to the parents who participated in the pilot focus group to test the feasibility of the survey packet. Thank you Irving Harris Foundation for exposing me to the world of infant and early childhood mental health that helped inspire some of this work. And, finally, thank you to my friends and family who supported me through this process. I really appreciate all of you for listening to me, answering my random questions, encouraging me, coaching me, and for all of your support and brilliance during this time. I am honored by all of you who contributed to this project. iv For the students and their families in the Chicago Public Schools Calm Classroom Kindergarten - 2nd Grade Project If we carry intergenerational trauma (and we do), then we also carry intergenerational wisdom. —Kazu Haga TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... ix LIST OF FIGURES .........................................................................................................................x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................................ xi ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................. xii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................1 Central Themes and Background ..................................................................................................3 CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS AND LITERATURE REVIEW ..............7 Intergenerational Trauma Transmission .......................................................................................7 Potential Buffers of Intergenerational Trauma ...........................................................................17 The Present Study .......................................................................................................................25 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................27 Research Design..........................................................................................................................28 Study Procedures ........................................................................................................................28 Instrumentation ...........................................................................................................................33 Data Analysis ..............................................................................................................................39 Ethical Considerations ................................................................................................................46 Summary .....................................................................................................................................47 CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS ......................................................................................................49 Descriptives: Demographics .......................................................................................................49 Descriptives: Study Variables .....................................................................................................50 Results of Research Questions ....................................................................................................62 Results Summary ........................................................................................................................96 CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION ..................................................................................................97 Summary of Findings ..................................................................................................................97 Study Implications ....................................................................................................................113 Study Limitations ......................................................................................................................116 Dissertation and Methodological Reflections ...........................................................................120 Conclusion – Prevalence of IGT and Evidence of Some Strengths ..........................................123 APPENDIX A: FAMILY STRESSFUL EXPERIENCES SURVEY .........................................127 APPENDIX B: CALM CLASSROOM K-2ND GRADE FAMILY LIAISON OVERVIEW .....131 vii APPENDIX C: POWER ANALYSIS JUSTIFICATION ...........................................................133 APPENDIX D: PARENT INFORMATION FORM ...................................................................135 APPENDIX E: DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION FORM .....................................................137 APPENDIX F: BRIEF PROBLEM MONITOR – PARENT ......................................................140 APPENDIX G: FIVE FACET MINDFULNESS QUESTIONNAIRE .......................................142 APPENDIX H: CARING FOR MYSELF QUESTIONNAIRE ..................................................148
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