Recalling a Devastating Tornado: Child and Mother-Child Recollections, Meaning Making, and Child Traumatic Stress

Abstract

Trauma exposure is thought to prompt meaning making efforts. The creation of a trauma narrative is part of many trauma treatments, partly because narrative creation is believed to promote therapeutic meanings made of the event. Yet, little is known about which aspects of meaning making are related to positive adjustment or maladjustment in children in non-therapeutic settings and at what time points following trauma exposure, as well as the role of caregivers in this process. 49 8 to 12 year olds and their mothers who experienced an EF5 tornado provided independent and joint recollections about their tornado experiences one year post-tornado. Verbatim transcripts were coded for indicators of meaning making and meaning made. Increased detail, coherence, emotion expression, and indications of meaning made provided by children in both the child-alone narratives and the mother-child conversations related to increased PTSS. In conversations, child-generated content was more frequently related to PTSS than mother-generated content, suggesting that children begin to have an active role in the meaning-making process at this age. Results indicate that certain indicators of making meaning and/or of meaning made are related to higher PTSS one year post-trauma in preadolescent children.