Parenting in Armed Political Conflict: Relationships Between Parental Efficacy, Reflective Functioning, and Age Among War-Displaced Families.
Yael Enav, Yael Mayer
PMID 40349111WHAT IT FOUND
War exposure alone showed no direct link to displaced parents' sense of efficacy.
Older parents and those with stronger parent-child relationships reported higher efficacy, and age changed how exposure related to efficacy.
Key findings
01War exposure did not have a direct link to parental efficacy.
02Older parents were associated with higher parental efficacy, and age changed the relationship between war exposure and efficacy.
03Parental reflective functioning and parent-child relationship quality were associated with higher parental efficacy.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The sample was small and limited to displaced Israeli parents, so the findings may not generalise to other displaced populations. All measures were self-report, including reflective functioning, so they may not show actual parenting ability. The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot show that age, reflective functioning, or parent-child relationship caused higher parental efficacy. The paper notes that the small sample may make the regression estimates unstable and sensitive to outliers. The study did not test an intervention, so it cannot show what treatment would improve parental efficacy.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was funded by The FAR Fund.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that older age causes resilience or that war exposure has no effect on families. The study is cross-sectional, small, and based on self-report, so it shows associations only.