Playfulness and Interaction: An Exploratory Study of Past and Current Exposure to Domestic Violence

Violence against women affects mother-child interactions, which may in turn affect their children's playfulness. We examined the effect of a history of violence against mothers on mother-child interactions and children's playfulness. This cross-sectional pilot study consisted of 36 mother-child dyads residing in family crisis shelters due to serious violence from an intimate partner. One subgroup had experienced violence during childhood, another had posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Instruments included Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale, Test of Playfulness, and Coding Interactive Behavior System. Mann-Whitney test and Spearman's rank correlation coefficients were calculated. Results indicated that children of mothers without PTSD were more playful than children of mothers with PTSD. Mothers who had not reported of childhood exposure to violence and who did not have PTSD had better interactions with more playful children.