The Albanian Cycle of Victimisation: Exploring the Pathways Between Maternal Exposure to Violence and Early Child Development
Background: The implementation of evidence-based policies has been proven to contribute to the reduction of domestic violence and its social consequences. However, such data-informed preventive efforts tend to be limited to affluent countries. Although 80% of the world’s population lives in low-and-middle-income countries, most research on families, parenting, and child development has been conducted in Western societies. Objectives: This study presents novel data on maternal exposure to violence, wellbeing, maternal parenting practices, and child development in Tirana, Albania. The dissertation specifically aims to: (1) explore the relationship between exposure to violence, social support, and mental well-being among mothers of toddlers; (2) determine the predictors of positive and negative parenting practices among mothers of toddlers; (3) explore the links between maternal parenting practices and child behavioural outcomes; (4) investigate maternal warmth as a potential moderator of the relationship between mother-reported child maltreatment and child problematic behavioural outcomes. This PhD contributes to the scarce literature on domestic violence, parenting, and child development in Albania and in Western Balkans more broadly. Methods: Cross-sectional data were obtained between September 2020 and May 2021 from a representative sample of 328 mothers and 59 nursery teachers of toddlers recruited through eight randomly selected public nurseries in Tirana, Albania. The overall participation rate was 84%. The data were analysed using a range of methods, such as bivariate correlations, paired t-tests, one-way ANOVAs, regression models, mediation, and moderation analyses. Findings: Overall, levels of maternal stress and depressive symptoms increased significantly with the amount of violence the mothers had been exposed to. IPV significantly mediated the relationship between exposure to childhood violence and maternal mental well-being, and support from the partner significantly mediated the relationship between IPV and maternal mental well-being. Maternal attitudes towards child maltreatment were a dominant significant predictor of negative parenting practices and maternal sense of parental competence was a dominant significant predictor of positive parenting practices. Mother-reported total child behavioural difficulties were positively significantly predicted by child maltreatment and negatively significantly predicted by maternal warmth. Mother-reported child prosociality was further positively associated with positive parenting. Dissimilar results were present for the nursery teacher-reported behavioural outcomes. High levels of maternal warmth enhanced the effect that child maltreatment had on child behavioural problems.
Albania, Domestic Violence, Mental Well-Being, Mothers, Parenting, Tirana, Toddlers
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