The mechanisms linking refugee parents’ trauma onto their children’s functioning are not well understood. The current study sought to identify how Somali refugee mothers’ past trauma and current mental health impact their children’s psychosocial adjustment. One hundred and ninety-eight Somali mothers (M age = 39 years) and their children (M age = 10 years; 56% male) were studied. On average, mothers spent 7 years in refugee camps, experienced significant trauma, and some had been tortured. Measures of mothers’ posttraumatic stress and depression were analyzed as three symptom clusters: volatility/panic, withdrawn/detached, and depressed mood. Most children were born in the U.S. and their indirect exposure to trauma was statistically controlled. Results from structural equation modeling indicated that there was no direct association between trauma of the mother and their children’s well-being, however, mothers’ posttraumatic stress and depressive symptoms significantly mediated the effects of mothers’ past torture on their children’s adjustment—a pattern indicative of intergenerational traumatization. Findings enhance our understanding of how refugees’ traumatization lingers and possibly affects their and their children’s health and well-being. © 2017, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Somali refugees Refugee trauma Intergenerational traumatization Children of refugees Transmission of trauma

depression refugee mental health human epidemiology Refugees statistics and numerical data Mother-Child Relations coping behavior Adaptation, Psychological ethnology African American United States Humans psychology Adolescent male female Mothers refugee camp Refugee Camps child health mother adult posttraumatic stress disorder Somalia Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic Psychological Trauma psychotrauma African Americans mother child relation Torture Child