Family-Level Mediators in the Intergenerational Transmission of Maternal Childhood Trauma: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Pooled Effect Measures

Authors

• Emma J. Mew, Yale School of Public Health
• Rhayna Poulin, Yale University
• Veronika Shabanova, Yale School of Public Health
• Hannah Gorman, Yale School of Public Health
• Marie-Claire Meadows, Yale School of Public Health
• Jessica L. Bonumwezi, Loyola University Maryland
• Victoria Chung, Yale University
• Rachel Hennein, Yale School of Public Health
• Audrey Y. Huang, Yale School of Public Health
• Kevin Quach, Yale University
• Vanessa Blas, Yale School of Public Health
• Ashlin Ondrusek, Yale School of Public Health
• Karly Sara Weinreb, Montclair State UniversityFollow
• Kate Nyhan, Yale University
• Si’itia Soliai-Lemusu, American Samoa Government
• Jueta McCutchan-Tofaeono, Empowering Pacific Island Communities
• Nicola L. Hawley, Yale School of Public Health
• Sarah R. Lowe, Yale School of Public Health

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-30-2026

Journal / Book Title

Child Maltreatment

Abstract

Children of mothers with childhood trauma are at an increased risk for mental health problems, yet the most influential family-related mediators of this intergenerational transmission remain unclear. This systematic review and meta-analysis synthesized effect sizes from 29 studies (n = 352,279 dyads) examining psychosocial family-level mediators between maternal childhood trauma and child mental health. We identified 380 simple and 40 serial mediation paths across four domains: child characteristics, maternal characteristics, parent–child relationship factors, and household characteristics. Maternal characteristics showed the largest pooled effects (proportion median [PM]: 31.2%; ratio median [RM]: 0.21), particularly maternal mental health (PM: 36.0%), maternal attachment style (PM: 27.2%), and maternal social support (PM: 27.2%). Our findings highlight the potential central role of maternal factors in the intergenerational transmission of trauma. Interventions that bolster maternal mental health and social support would be most impactful in disrupting the intergenerational transmission of trauma, though further research is needed.

DOI

10.1177/10775595261425582

MSU Digital Commons Citation

Mew, Emma J.; Poulin, Rhayna; Shabanova, Veronika; Gorman, Hannah; Meadows, Marie-Claire; Bonumwezi, Jessica L.; Chung, Victoria; Hennein, Rachel; Huang, Audrey Y.; Quach, Kevin; Blas, Vanessa; Ondrusek, Ashlin; Weinreb, Karly Sara; Nyhan, Kate; Soliai-Lemusu, Si’itia; McCutchan-Tofaeono, Jueta; Hawley, Nicola L.; and Lowe, Sarah R., "Family-Level Mediators in the Intergenerational Transmission of Maternal Childhood Trauma: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Pooled Effect Measures" (2026). Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works. 713.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/psychology-facpubs/713

Rights

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)

Published Citation

Mew, E. J., Poulin, R., Shabanova, V., Gorman, H., Meadows, M.-C., Bonumwezi, J. L., Chung, V., Hennein, R., Huang, A. Y., Quach, K., Blas, V., Ondrusek, A., Weinreb, K. S., Nyhan, K., Soliai-Lemusu, S., McCutchan-Tofaeono, J., Hawley, N. L., & Lowe, S. R. (2026). Family-Level Mediators in the Intergenerational Transmission of Maternal Childhood Trauma: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Pooled Effect Measures. Child Maltreatment, 0(0).