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Risk and resilience: The moderating role of socialcoping for maternal mental health in a setting ofpolitical conflictLaura K. Taylor a , Christine E. Merrilees a , Ed Cairns b , Peter Shirlow c , MarcieGoeke-Morey d & E. Mark Cummings aa Department of Psychology , University of Notre Dame , Notre Dame , IN , USAb Department of Psychology , University of Ulster , Coleraine , UKc School of Law, Queen's University Belfast , Belfast , UKd Department of Psychology , The Catholic University of America , Washington ,DC , USAPublished online: 16 Apr 2012.

To cite this article: Laura K. Taylor , Christine E. Merrilees , Ed Cairns , Peter Shirlow , Marcie Goeke-Morey & E.Mark Cummings (2013) Risk and resilience: The moderating role of social coping for maternal mental health in asetting of political conflict, International Journal of Psychology, 48:4, 591-603, DOI: 10.1080/00207594.2012.658055

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Risk and resilience: The moderating role of socialcoping for maternal mental health in a setting of

political conflict

Laura K. Taylor1, Christine E. Merrilees1, Ed Cairns2, Peter Shirlow3,Marcie Goeke-Morey4, and E. Mark Cummings1

1Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA2Department of Psychology, University of Ulster, Coleraine, UK3School of Law, Queens University Belfast, Belfast, UK4Department of Psychology, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, USA

V iolence can threaten individual wellbeing and tear at the social fabric of communities. At the same time,suffering can mobilize social coping and mutual support. Thus, the backdrop of political violence increasesrisk factors and stimulates resilience. The current study examined the moderating role of social coping as

reflective of risk and resiliency in Northern Ireland, a setting of protracted conflict. Specifically, structuralequation modeling was used to investigate whether social coping protects from or exacerbates the negative impactof sectarian crime and nonsectarian crime on maternal mental health (N 631). Nonsectarian crime predictedgreater psychological distress for mothers in Belfast. Mixed support was found for the buffering and depletionmoderation hypotheses; social coping functioned differently for nonsectarian crime and sectarian crime. Greatersocial coping buffered mothers psychological distress from the negative effects of nonsectarian crime, but

exacerbated maternal mental health problems when facing sectarian crime. Results suggest that social coping isa complex phenomenon, particularly in settings of protracted political violence. Implications for interventionsaimed at alleviating psychological distress by enhancing mothers social coping in contexts of intergroup conflict

are discussed.

Keywords: Social coping; Maternal mental health; Risk and resilience; Protracted conflict; Political violence.

L a violence peut menacer le bien-etre individuel et nuire a la structure sociale des communautes. En memetemps, la souffrance peut mobiliser le coping social et le soutien mutuel. Dans cette perspective, la toile defond de la violence politique accroit les facteurs de risque tout en stimulant la resilience. La presente etude

examinait le role moderateur du coping social en tant que reflet du risque et de la resilience en Irlande du Nord,un milieu marque par un conflit prolonge. Plus specifiquement, une modelisation par equations structurelles etaitutilisee pour examiner si le coping social protege de ou exacerbe limpact negatif du crime sectaire et du crime non

sectaire sur la sante mentale des meres (N 631). Le crime non sectaire predisait une plus grande detressepsychologique pour les meres de Belfast. Des resultats mixtes ont ete obtenus quant aux hypotheses de leffetmoderateur protecteur et destructeur; il appert que le coping social fonctionne differemment pour le crime nonsectaire et le crime sectaire. Un plus grand coping social reduisait les effets du crime non sectaire sur la detresse

psychologique chez les meres, mais il exacerbait les problemes de sante mentale des meres face au crime sectaire.Les resultats suggerent que le coping social est un phenomene complexe, particulierement dans les milieux ou laviolence politique est prolongee. Les implications pour les interventions visant a soulager la detresse

psychologique des meres par le biais de laugmentation du coping social en contexte de conflit intergroupesont discutees.

Laura K. Taylor, Department of Psychology, 200 Brownson Hall, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA.

(E-mail: ltaylo12@nd.edu).

We would like to thank the many families in Northern Ireland who have participated in the project. We would also like toexpress our appreciation for the project staff, graduate students, and undergraduate students at the University of Notre Dameand the University of Ulster. A special thanks to Cindy Bergeman and Dan Lapsley for feedback on earlier drafts of thismanuscript. This research was supported by NICHD grant 046933-05 to the E. Mark Cummings.

International Journal of Psychology, 2013Vol. 48, No. 4, 591603, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00207594.2012.658055

2013 International Union of Psychological Science

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L a violencia puede amenazar el bienestar individual y desgarrar el tejido social de las comunidades. Al mismotiempo, el sufrimiento puede movilizar el afrontamiento social y el apoyo mutuo. Por lo tanto, el contextode violencia poltica aumenta los factores de riesgo y estimula la resiliencia. El presente estudio examino el papelmoderador del afrontamiento social como un reflejo del riesgo y la resiliencia en Irlanda del Norte, un marco deconflicto prolongado. Mas especficamente, se uso un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales para investigar si el

afrontamiento social protege de o exacerba las consecuencias negativas del crimen sectario y no sectario en lasalud mental materna (N 631). El crimen no sectario predijo un mayor distres psicologico para las madres deBelfast. Hubo un apoyo mixto a la hipotesis de moderacion mitigadora y reductora; el afrontamiento socialfunciono de manera distinta para el crimen sectario y no sectario. Un mayor afrontamiento social mitigo el

distres psicologico de las madres derivado de los efectos adversos del crimen no sectario, pero exacerbo losproblemas de salud mental de la madre ante el crimen sectario. Los resultados sugieren que el afrontamientosocial es un fenomeno complejo, sobre todo en contextos de violencia poltica prolongada. Se discuten las

implicaciones para las intervenciones dirigidas a aliviar el distres psicologico de las madres a traves de laoptimizacion del afrontamiento social en contextos de conflicto intergrupal.

One third of all nations have experienced civil

conflict since 1991 (Harbom & Wallensteen, 2007).

Violent conflict tears at the social fabric of

communities (Kimhi & Shamai, 2004), and at the

same time, suffering can mobilize social coping,

mutual support, and posttraumatic growth (Staub

& Vollhardt, 2008). A substantial body of research

has shown that individuals and families are at

greater risk for maladjustment when facing inci-

dents of traumatic stress or prolonged periods of

violence (Kimhi & Shamai, 2004). In addition to

physical violence, intergroup tension and threat

can influence individual adjustment (Punamaki,

1986). Women and mothers are particularly

vulnerable to certain classes of mental health

problems, such as depression, posttraumatic

stress (PTS) symptoms, anxiety, and decreased

wellbeing in contexts of ongoing political and

community violence (Bryce, Walker, & Peterson,

1989; Somer, Maguen, Or-Chen, & Litz, 2009;

Zeidner, 2006).Yet high levels of resilience are also found for

individuals living in settings of community vio-

lence, chronic political conflict, and in the wake of

war (Johnson et al., 2009; Leventhal & Brooks-

Gunn, 2000). Although social coping has been

identified as one factor in resilience processes

(Thoits, 1986), it may be a particularly important

variable in settings of intergroup conflict because

individuals may mobilize around salient ingroup/

outgroup distinctions (Bar-Tal, 2007). Social

coping, that is the use of emotional and instru-

mental resources provided by informal and formal

networks, can be an important moderator of the

impact of stressful environments on individual

wellbeing (Rodrigo, Martn, Maiquez, &

Rodrguez, 2007). The current study examined

whether social coping moderated the impact of

concurrent risks, specifically sectarian crime and

nonsectarian crime, on mothers adjustment inBelfast, Northern Ireland, a setting of protractedpolitical conflict (Shirlow & Murtagh, 2006).

SOCIAL ECOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK

Individuals are affected both directly and indir-ectly by political conflict. The social ecologicalframework provides a useful heuristic to concep-tualize how different levels of the social environ-ment affect mothers wellbeing (Bronfenbrenner,1979). Neighborhood effects, such as proximalcrime in the exosystem, have been identified asimportant contextual factors for maternal psycho-logical distress and family processes (Ceballo &McLoyd, 2002; Leventhal & Brooks-Gunn, 2000).In addition to heightened sectarian crime duringpolitical conflict, there is often an increase innonsectarian crime after the signing of a peaceagreement (Monaghan & McLaughlin, 2006). It ispossible that these different elements of theexosystem (i.e., sectarian and nonsectarian crime)work within the larger macrosystem in differentways, interacting with individual level variables topredict mental health. To understand how violencein the exosystem affects individuals and families itis necessary to test models that differentiatebetween types of crime, namely sectarian andnonsectarian, in the social ecology (Cummings,Goeke-Morey, Schermerhorn, Merrilees, &Cairns, 2009).

MOTHERS AND SECTARIAN VIOLENCE

Compared to men, women may be at heightenedrisk for internalizing problems in contexts ofsectarian violence (Johnson et al., 2009).Sectarian crime, i.e., political antisocial behavior,

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refers to acts occurring between conflicting groupsthat are directed at members or physical markersof the other group. Sectarian violence weakenspsychosocial and economic resources (Johnsonet al., 2009), making conflict more distressing,more threatening, and less manageable for women(Zeidner, 2006). Because women may be particu-larly reactive to sectarian violence (Punamaki,1986; Somer et al., 2009), and maternal wellbeingand depression are important factors for familyprocesses (Bryce et al., 1989), the current studyfocused on how sectarian crime affected thesedimensions of mothers mental health for familiesembedded in a context of sectarian violence andpolitical conflict.

MOTHERS AND NONSECTARIANVIOLENCE

Sectarian, or political, violence does not occur ina vacuum (Bryce et al., 1989; Punamaki, 1986);often, as levels of sectarian violence subside, newforms of criminal and nonsectarian violence mayemerge (Monaghan & McLaughlin, 2006).Nonsectarian violence is not politically motivatedand is more likely to be conflict within rather thanbetween groups. However, most political violenceliterature largely ignores the impact of additionalforms of community violence, such as nonsectar-ian crime, on individuals and families (for excep-tions see Cummings et al., 2009, 2010).

Independent of the co-occurrence with sectarianviolence, nonsectarian or community violence hasbeen linked to greater distress and elevateddepression in mothers. Mothers may showincreased distress because they cannot provide anenvironment of safety and security for theirchildren, or protect them from community vio-lence (Oravecz, Koblinsky, & Randolph, 2008).Moreover, childrens safety is the primary reasonthat parents decide to move away from dangerousneighborhoods (Leventhal & Brooks-Gunn, 2000).These findings suggest that living in contexts ofboth sectarian and nonsectarian violence mayadversely affect maternal wellbeing. However,more research is needed to understand howdifferent moderators, such as social coping, mayhelp buffer or protect mothers mental health fromsectarian and nonsectarian crime.

SOCIAL COPING AND MATERNALMENTAL HEALTH

Social coping can be defined as a resilienceprocess by which social resources provided by

informal and formal networks allow for instru-mental and expressive personal needs to be metin everyday situations as well as under crisis(Rodrigo et al., 2007, p. 330). In stressful situa-tions, social coping may be instrumental, provid-ing relief from stressors in the environment, and/oremotional, helping individuals manage theirexpressive needs and affective reactions (Thoits,1986). Social coping has been identified as animportant factor in the face of individual andcollective trauma (Norris & Kaniasty, 1992),sectarian or political violence (Bryce et al., 1989),and nonsectarian or community violence (Ceballo& McLoyd, 2002; Rodrigo et al., 2007). However,to be an effective buffer, social coping shouldmatch the needs and values of the distressedindividual (Thoits, 1986, p. 421). In other words,social coping can function as a moderator inbeneficial or harmful ways, depending on how it isexperienced by an individual in a given context. Inaddition, there may be a reciprocal relationship;prior adjustment problems may influence anindividuals use of effective social coping strategies(Patten, Williams, Lavorato, & Bulloch, 2010).Therefore, the current study controlled for earlieradjustment to examine the efficacy of the stressor/coping match: Does social coping protectmothers mental health from the negative effectsof different risk factors (e.g., sectarian crime andnonsectarian crime) in a setting of protractedconflict?There are two alternative hypotheses about the

moderating role of social coping within differentsocial contexts. The first hypothesis is a bufferingmoderation model which predicts that socialcoping protects mental health from the negativeimpact of environmental stressors (Norris &Kaniasty, 1992; Rodrigo et al., 2007). Morespecifically, social coping improves mothers abil-ity to handle daily stressors, enhances psychologi-cal functioning (Ceballo & McLoyd, 2002;McLoyd, 1990), and bolsters mental healththrough positive interactions, affirmation, andassistance (Lee, Anderson, Horowitz, & August,2009). In addition, through social coping, motherscan also acquire instrumental, or material, supportsuch as child care, which may protect them frommaladaptive parenting (McLoyd, 1990). Thus,social coping can be conceptualized as assets,relationships, and resources for mothers, protect-ing their mental health from dangerous threats inthe social ecology.Conversely, the second hypothesis is the deple-

tion moderation model, which predicts that socialcoping may be detrimental to maternal wellbeingin contexts of severe or multiple risks.

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The depletion hypothesis suggests that socialcoping is compromised in high-risk environmentsbecause others are living under similarly stressfulconditions (Rodrigo et al., 2007). That is, partnersin coping, such as spouses, grandparents, kin ties,neighbors, or state institutions, may also be undersimilar strain and provide lower quality orinsufficient emotional support (Ceballo &McLoyd, 2002). Moreover, informal socialcoping with peers in high-risk environments isoften reciprocal (Rodrigo et al., 2007); the futureobligation to return support may provide anadditional mental burden for mothers (Ceballo &McLoyd, 2002). For example, accepting instru-mental support may be particularly taxing foralready low-resource families if mothers anticipatethey will have to repay the favor (Leventhal &Brooks-Gunn, 2000). Thus, according to thedepletion hypothesis, social coping in high-riskcommunities may have emotional and materialcosts (McLoyd, 1990).

PROTRACTED SECTARIAN CONFLICTIN NORTHERN IRELAND

Before presenting the specific research questionsguiding the current study, it is helpful to put theconflict in Northern Ireland in perspective. In itsessence, the conflict is a constitutional issuebetween two different groups: Catholics, orNationalists, who want to join the rest of theisland of Ireland, and Protestants, or Unionists,who wish to remain part of the United Kingdom(Cairns & Darby, 1998). During the most recentcycle of sectarian violence, known as the Troubles,approximately 3600 people were killed. Sectarian-motivated death rates peaked in the early andmid-1970s and have subsided following the 1998Belfast Agreement. However, sectarian hostilitiesdid not fully end with the signing of the peaceaccord (Trends in Police Reported Crime, 2011).On the contrary, tensions between Catholics andProtestants remain a constant part of life inNorthern Ireland (Shirlow & Murtagh, 2006).Since the Belfast Agreement and decommission-

ing of paramilitaries, the lack of social controlviolence, or own-group policing, has opened thespace for new forms of criminal violence(Monaghan & McLaughlin, 2006). As a result,there has been a steady increase in nonsectariancrime since 2000. Thus, although the underlyingconstitutional dispute has largely been resolvedthrough a power-sharing government, NorthernIreland remains mired in low levels of violence andcivil disturbances (Shirlow & Murtagh, 2006).

CURRENT STUDY AND RESEARCHQUESTIONS

Given the historic and present situation inNorthern Ireland, the current study aimed toidentify predictors of maternal mental health(e.g., sectarian and nonsectarian crime) as well asa moderator (e.g., social coping) that may protectmothers adjustment from the negative impact ofenvironmental risks. By expanding the study ofpolitical conflict to include both sectarian andnonsectarian crime, the study offers a morecomprehensive picture of the multiple risks facingmothers in Belfast.

To examine resilience processes to differentenvironmental stressors, two research questionsframed the current study. First, do environmentalrisks such as sectarian crime and nonsectariancrime affect maternal mental health? Based onprevious research, it was predicted that higher levelsof crime would be related to more negativematernal adjustment. Second, does social copingmoderate (protect and/or exacerbate) the relation-ships between the risk factors and maternaladjustment in a setting of protracted conflict?This question aimed to tease out potential differ-ences in the alternative conceptualizations of andcompeting hypotheses about the moderating role ofsocial coping. Moderation tests recognize thatpsychosocial processes are not uniform acrosspeople and aim to identify for whom and in whatsettings the link between risks and outcomes isstronger. This statistical approach is particularlyrelevant to the study of the co-occurrence of riskand resilience (Cummings, Davies, & Campbell,2000). Current analyses tested the bufferinghypothesis, which predicted that greater socialcoping would protect mothers in high-risk environ-ments, and the depletion hypothesis, which pre-dicted that greater social coping with peers who areunder similar distress would exacerbate mentalhealth problems in high-risk environments.

METHOD

Participants

The mothers (N 631) in the current study wereparticipants in Wave 4 of a longitudinal study onthe impact of sectarian violence on families inNorthern Ireland. The average age of mothers was39.73 years (SD 6.22, range 23 to 63), and theyhad been living in the same ward in Belfast for anaverage of 15.03 years (SD 10.98, range 0 to 55).Mothers in this sample had an average of 2.44

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children (SD 1.29). Single parents made up 63%of the sample (n 259 never been married; n 64separated; n 55 divorced; n 19 widowed); theremaining 37% were married (n 192) or living asmarried (n 42). In Northern Ireland, single-parent households are more prevalent in urbanand socially deprived areas (Center for SocialJustice, 2010). For example, in 2008, 57% of birthsin Belfast were to unmarried mothers (NISRA,2011). Consistent with the demographics ofNorthern Ireland, all participants were White.

Neighborhood and family selection

Potential neighborhoods were identified to capturevariation on levels of sectarian violence andsegregated/interfaced living patterns, and to mini-mize socioeconomic status (SES) differences. Thefirst criterion reflects the temporal, spatial, andqualitative differences in violence during the timeof the Troubles and more recent variation insectarian crime. Second, in the current study themajority of participants lived in wards that weregreater than 90% Catholic or Protestant (NISRA,2011), reflecting the reality that almost three-quarters of the population in Belfast live in areasthat are predominantly Catholic or Protestant(Shirlow & Murtagh, 2006). Many of theseneighborhoods are interfaced, or bordered by aneighborhood in which the other group is themajority. However, even those not living insegregated housing live segregated lives.

The third criterion aimed to limit SES differ-ences within the sample; all neighborhoods wereworking class. In Northern Ireland, all 582 wardsare indexed based on a multiple deprivationmeasure. The ranking is determined by income,employment, health, education, proximity toservices, crime, and the quality of the livingenvironment. In the current study, all areas werein the lowest quartile of the most deprived wards inNorthern Ireland (NISRA, 2011).

Using these three criteria, a potential list ofBelfast wards was generated. From this list a set ofCatholic and Protestant neighborhoods wasselected to approximate the representation ofNorthern Ireland (44% Catholic, 56%Protestant). Within each neighborhood, 35 to 40families were identified using stratified randomsampling.

Procedure

The study was conducted under the approval anddirection of the Institutional Review Board at all

participating universities. Mothers provided con-sent before participating and all questionnaires

were administered as interviews in the participantshome by professionals from an established marketresearch firm in Northern Ireland. Interviews wereconducted in separate rooms to ensure privacy andlasted approximately 60 min; families received 40for their participation.

Measures

Sectarian crime

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI)collects annual rates (from May 1 to April 30) of

crime and antisocial behavior for every ward inNorthern Ireland. The data used in the currentanalyses were from the PSNI year 20092010,which ran prior to and concurrent with Wave 4data collection. The PSNI tracked the frequency ofsectarian crime, or the number of violent attacks or

antisocial acts that were perceived, by the victim orthe PSNI, as being sectarian. According to thePSNI definition, the term sectarian is broadlyunderstood to describe incidents based on apersons perceived religion or political opinion(PSNI, 2010, emphasis added). Each participant

was assigned the sectarian crime score based on theward in which she lived in during Wave 4 of thestudy. For the current study, an average of 16sectarian crimes per ward per year was reported(SD 11, range 1.5 to 45).

Nonsectarian crime

The total number of crimes recorded for 2009

2010 includes both sectarian and nonsectarianantisocial behaviors (such as drug use, burglary,and vehicle crime) and violent crime (such asoffenses against the person, sexual offenses, androbbery). Offenses included the threat of violenceas well as actual violence, and the severity or

degree of violence may vary considerably. Thefrequency of nonsectarian crime for the currentstudy was the total crime recorded minus thesectarian crime frequency for each ward in thestudy. As with sectarian crime, participantsreceived the value of nonsectarian crime for the

ward in which they lived. The average nonsectar-ian crime for each ward in the study was 207offenses (SD 282, range 23 to 1161). Similar tosectarian crime, there was diversity in the intensityof nonsectarian crime across the wards in thesample.

SOCIAL COPING AND MENTAL HEALTH 595

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Maternal wellbeing (GHQ-12)

Maternal wellbeing was measured using theGeneral Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12)(Goldberg & Williams, 1988). The 12-item scaleassessed the severity of mental health problemssuch as face up to your problems, felt constantlyunder strain, and capable of making decisions.Participants responded to what degree they identi-fied with the target items on a four-point Likertscale from 0 not at all to 3much more thanusual. Responses were summed for a total scoreranging from 0 to 36, with higher scores represent-ing more mental health difficulties. The GHQ-12has been widely used internationally in communitysamples to screen for psychological wellbeing withpopulations exposed to political violence. Theinternal consistency (Cronbachs a .71) in thissample was adequate.

Depressive symptoms (CES-D)

Depressive symptoms were measured using a10-item version of the Center for EpidemiologicStudies Depression Scale (CES-D) (Radloff, 1977).The original full-length version is suitable forcommunity and clinical samples, with good inter-nal consistency (Cronbachs a .85) and adequatetestretest reliability (.51 to .67). The shorter formshave comparable internal consistency, factor solu-tions, and testretest reliability to the longer form.In the current study, participants responded toquestions about how frequently they had experi-enced the target items. Participants responded on afour-point Likert scale for how many days duringthe past week they had experienced the givenquestion; responses ranged from 0 less than 1 dayto 3 57 days during the past week (range 0 to30). Sample items included cant shake off sadfeelings even with the help from family or friends,afraid or fearful, and feel bothered by things thatusually dont bother you. The internal consistencyin this sample was good (Cronbachs a .86).

Social coping

The social coping measure contained two sub-scales, emotional and instrumental coping, of alarger questionnaire designed to test multidimen-sional strategies in response to stress (Carver,Scheier, & Weintraub, 1989). In the originaldevelopment of the questionnaire, internal consis-tency for the emotional and instrumental subscaleswere .75 and .85, respectively. Testretest reliabilityfor both scales across two samples ranged from .64to .76, and the two subscales were significantly

correlated with each other (r .69, p5 .01). In thecurrent study, mothers were asked to reflect on howthey had been coping with stress in their lives. Thefour emotional coping questions included itemssuch as I discuss my feelings with someone and I getsympathy and understanding from someone else.Examples of the four instrumental coping questionsare I try to get advice from someone about what todo and I talk to someone who could do somethingconcrete about the problem. Participants respondedon a four-point Likert scale ranging from 0 I havenot been doing this at all to 3 I have been doing thisa lot, with a total possible combined score acrossthe eight questions ranging from 0 to 24.Cronbachs a values were good for both subscales(a .94 for both emotion and instrumental coping)in the current sample.

Controls

Three demographic factors that may influencematernal wellbeing were added as control variables:marital status (0 single-parent household, 1 two-parent household), total number of children living inthe home, and maternal age. These variables aimedto control for the potential influence of beingsingle, having more children, and being younger onindividual wellbeing. To control for previousmaternal adjustment problems, an autoregressivecontrol for mothers mental health 1 year prior wasalso included and served as a covariate for latersocial coping to explore the possibility that womenwith more mental health problems may use lesseffective social coping mechanisms.

Data analytic plan

The current analyses were conducted using astructural equation model (SEM) framework inAMOS Graphics 18 (Arbuckle, 2009). The pro-posed model (Figure 1) was used to test the studystwo research questions: (1) Do environmental riskssuch as sectarian crime and nonsectarian crimeaffect maternal mental health? (2) Does socialcoping moderate (protect and/or exacerbate) therelationships between the two risk factors andmaternal adjustment in a setting of protractedconflict? Therefore, nonsectarian crime and sectar-ian crime were entered as exogenous variables, ormain effects, in the model. Interaction terms ofsocial coping and each of the two predictors werecreated to test the moderation effect on mothersmental health; social coping and the two interac-tion terms were entered as exogenous variables.Marital status, number of children living in the

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Marital Status

-.08*

.67

.96

CESD

GHQ

Prior Mental Health Problems (1 yr earlier)

Total Children

.06

Mothers Age

.04

.61***

.72

.98

Mothers Mental Health Problems

CESD

GHQ

-.16***

-.01

.11*

.12**

Sectarian Crime

Nonsectarian Crime

Social Coping

Figure 1. Structural equation model and path analysis of the risk factors for and moderation of mothers mental health problems

(N 631). Standardized path coefficients reported. Correlations between exogenous constructs, error variances, and control variableswere omitted from the model for readability. yp5 .10; *p5 .05; **p5 .01 ; ***p5 .001. Model fit: w2(35) 38.22, p4 .05, N 631;w2/df 1.09; NFI .98; CFI .99; RMSEA .01 (CI: .00, .03).

home, maternal age, and mental health 1 yearprior were entered as a control variables for allmodel tests. Exogenous predictors were allowed tocorrelate with each other, and all control variableswere allowed to correlate with each other.Mothers mental health was the sole outcome ofinterest and entered as the only endogenousvariable in the model.

A number of analyses were conducted todetermine the most appropriate model for thedata. First, preliminary analyses were conductedto examine the descriptive statistics and total effectsrelationships for the manifest variables and indica-tors in the model. Second, a principal componentanalysis was conducted to determine how to modelsocial coping. Third, the main effects of sectariancrime and nonsectarian crime on mothers mentalhealth and themoderation effect of social coping onthese stressors were tested simultaneously.

RESULTS

Preliminary analyses

The means, standard deviations, and bivariatecorrelations for all manifest variables and

indicators are included in Table 1. The twopredictors were significantly correlated, and non-sectarian crime was significantly and positivelycorrelated with more concurrent mental healthproblems and more coping (r .10 to .14,p5 .05). The frequency of sectarian crime wasnot significantly correlated with either motherswellbeing or depressive symptoms, and wasnegatively correlated with the moderator, socialcoping (r.14, p5 .01). Mothers mental healthindicators were positively correlated with concur-rent social coping (r .13 to .18, p5 .01). Priormental health indicators were not significantlycorrelated with later social coping, but didsignificantly correlate with later adjustment pro-blems (r .42 to .58, p5 .001). Mothers age waspositively correlated with more depressive symp-toms (r .09 to .11, p5 .05), but not overallwellbeing, and older mothers had more children(r .08, p5 .05). Two-parent households hadfewer mental health problems across both mea-sures and time points (r.09 to .12, p5 .05),and were more likely to be older (r .13, p5 .01)and to have more children (r .14, p5 .01).Finally, the total number of children was nega-tively correlated with sectarian crime (r.10,p5 .05) and positively correlated with more social

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TABLE 1Means, standard deviations, and bivariate correlations for all manifest variables and indicators (N 631)

M SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1. Sectarian crime 16.10 11.63

2. Nonsectarian crime 208.44 284.46 .66***

3. Mothers social coping 10.10 8.86 .14** .14*** 4. Prior mothers wellbeing

(GHQ-12)

13.79 6.09 5.001 .02 .03

5. Prior mothers depressive

symptoms (CES-D)

9.79 5.12 .03 .05 5.001 0.63***

6. Mothers wellbeing (GHQ-12) 12.43 6.08 5.001 .10* .18*** .55*** .42*** 7. Mothers depressive

symptoms (CES-D)

8.46 5.63 .04 .13** .13** .44*** .58*** .72***

8. Mothers age 39.73 6.22 .06 .06 .03 .06 .09* .07 .11* 9. Marital status

(0 single parent, 1 two parents) .03 .01 .080 .12** .09* .12** .11* .13**

10. Total number of children 2.44 1.29 .10* .04 .10* .04 .05 .10* .08 .08* .14**

*p5 .05; **p5 .01; ***p5 .001.

coping (r .10, p5 .05) and wellbeing problems(r .10, p5 .05).

Creation of manifest and latent variables

Prior to examining the proposed model, a princi-pal component analysis (PCA) was conducted toexamine the internal consistency of the socialcoping measure. Across eight items of the twosubscales, emotional and instrumental coping, thePCA suggested a coherent scale for social coping.Consistent with previous research (Ceballo &McLoyd, 2002), all eight items were highlycorrelated (r .74 to .84, p5 .01), which suggeststhat including a parameter for measurement errorwould not significantly improve the estimate ofthis construct (Perera & Maxwell, 2010).Therefore, a single composite score for socialcoping that summed all eight items was included inthe model as a manifest variable.To calculate the outcome of mothers mental

health, composite scores of maternal wellbeing(GHQ-12) and depressive symptoms (CES-D)were computed by adding all of the items foreach scale, respectively. A latent variable of overallmental health was fit using mothers wellbeing anddepressive symptoms as manifest indicators. Thefactor loading for wellbeing was fixed to 1( .96), and the path for depressive symptomswas estimated ( .74, p5 .001).For the complete model test, manifest variables

were used for sectarian and nonsectarian crime.The main predictor variables were centered andthen multiplied by the centered moderator (socialcoping) to decrease the possible confound of

multicollinearity. These moderated effects arerepresented in Figure 1 by the arrows from socialcoping to the direct effects of sectarian andnonsectarian crime.

Primary analyses

For the SEM model of direct and moderationeffects, estimates were derived using maximumlikelihood estimation and overall model fit wasassessed with the w2/df index, the normative fitindex (NFI), the comparative fit index (CFI), andthe root mean square residual (RMSEA).Acceptable model fit indices are indicated byw2/df index 3, an NFI and CFI .90, and anRMSEA .08 (Hu & Bentler, 1999).

The fit for the overall model was good(Figure 1); w2(35) 38.22, p4 .05, N 631;w2/df 1.09; NFI .98; CFI .99; RMSEA .01(CI: .00, .03). The demographic control for maritalstatus was significant (.08, p5 .05); mothersin two-parent households reported fewer mentalhealth symptoms than single mothers. There was apositive trend for the total number of children andmaternal maladjustment (b .06, p5 .10), butmothers age was not a significant predictor ofmental health problems ( .04, ns). Prior mater-nal wellbeing significantly predicted adjustmentproblems (b .61, p5 .001), but did not signifi-cantly covary with later social coping one yearlater (b .03, ns).

Regarding the first research question, there wasa significant, positive link between nonsectariancrime (b .11, p5 .05) and maternal adjustment;more nonsectarian crime in the exosystem

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predicted greater mental health problems.Controlling for nonsectarian crime and the otherdemographic characteristics of the family, thedirect effect of sectarian crime in the exosystemwas not a significant predictor of maternal distress(b.01, ns) in this model.

There was mixed support for the predictionsbased on the second research question about thebuffering and depletion hypotheses. The signs ofthe interaction terms of social coping withsectarian and nonsectarian crime were in oppositedirections. Greater social coping buffered mothersfrom the negative effects of nonsectarian crime(b.16, p5 .001), such as robberies and cartheft, but exacerbated mental health problemswhen they faced sectarian crime (b .12,p5 .01), such as politically themed name callingor antisocial behavior. These results suggest thatsocial coping functioned differently as a moderatorof mothers mental health with respect to differenttypes of stressor.

The two interaction effects are shown inFigure 2; high social coping was graphed at onestandard deviation above the mean and low socialcoping was one standard deviation below themean. In Figure 2 (left), for mothers with highersocial coping, the positive relationship betweennonsectarian crime and mental health problemswas attenuated. That is, the relationship betweenthe predictor and the outcome was weaker athigher levels of the moderator. This findingsupports the buffering hypothesis; social copingdecreases psychological distress in a context ofnonsectarian crime. Figure 2 (right), on the other

hand, demonstrates the opposite effect for sectar-

ian crime, which supports the depletion hypoth-

esis. For mothers in contexts of high sectarian

crime, more social coping was linked to more

mental health problems. This moderation effect

suggests that more social coping exacerbates

mental health problems in the face of sectarian

violence.

DISCUSSION

The goal of the current study was to examine the

role of social coping as a moderator in a setting of

protracted conflict. Nonsectarian crime predicted

more mental health problems, consistent with

expectation that the increased risk of crime

would be distressing to mothers; however, sectar-

ian crime did not directly predict more mental

health problems in this model. Regarding the

stressor/coping match, findings indicated that

social coping played distinct roles in response to

sectarian and nonsectarian neighborhood crime.

More social coping protected maternal mental

health from nonsectarian crime. Yet greater social

coping exacerbated mental health problems when

mothers were facing sectarian crime. The findings

suggest that potential interventions to alleviate

maternal distress should consider that the efficacy

of social coping may vary in response to different

types of stressor and risk, highlighting the impor-

tance of moderation tests in the study of the

co-occurrence of risk and resilience processes.

Figure 2. (Left) Social coping buffers mothers mental health problems from nonsectarian crime. (Right) Social coping exacerbates

mothers mental health problems in the face of sectarian crime.

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Mothers in a setting of multiple risks

Considering the first research question, consistentwith the community violence literature, motherswho lived in areas with more nonsectarian crimereported greater psychological distress (Oraveczet al., 2008). Mothers in this study may experiencegreater distress because of frequent nonsectariancrime in the exosystem, or the surroundingcommunity. Past studies using self-report measureshave found that sectarian violence negativelyaffects mothers and families (Cummings et al.,2010); however, the lower frequency of reportedsectarian crime in the objective data may explainthe nonsignificant main effect of sectarian crimeon maternal mental health in the current analyses.To control for the individual risk factors, the levelof prior maternal mental health problems wasincluded as a direct effect and significantlypredicted adjustment problems 1 year later.These main effects highlight the need to differ-entiate between types of violence (i.e., sectarian ornonsectarian) and the importance of measuringneighborhood factors to examine how differentlevels of the social ecology affect individuals andfamilies (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Leventhal &Brooks-Gunn, 2000).

The stressor/coping match

The findings also highlight the importance of amoderation test that can disentangle the influenceof social coping in response to specific risk factors,controlling for earlier adjustment. In this study,social coping protected mothers from nonsectariancrime, but exacerbated mental health problemsassociated with sectarian crime. Two explanationsmay elucidate the differential stressor/copingmatch: the relation to problem-focused or emo-tion-focused coping and the depletion of resourcesin response to different stressors in protractedconflict.First, social coping may be a better match for

nonsectarian crime because participants can dosomething about intragroup acts, tapping intoproblem-focused coping. Participants may believethat together with their neighbors, they canaddress neighborhood crime. For example, infocus group discussions in interfaced Belfastneighborhoods, mothers described the areas asclose-knit (Taylor et al., 2011). Through this widersocial network, mothers may feel more capable ofmonitoring childrens behavior to protect themfrom nonsectarian antisocial behavior within thecommunity. A two-wave study found that child

exposure to nonsectarian, but not sectarian, anti-social behavior predicted maternal behavioralcontrol, such as needing parental permission togo out with friends (Merrilees et al., 2011). Thisadaptive parenting strategy suggests that mothersmay feel more efficacious in protecting theirchildren in the face of nonsectarian violence,which in turn may buffer them from greatermental health problems.

In the face of sectarian violence, on the otherhand, there may not be much that individuals inthese neighborhoods can do about the inter-group crime and threat (Cairns & Wilson, 1989).In this case, denial, distancing, acceptance, and/oravoidance may be more effective means of copingwith sectarian crime than problem-focusedapproaches (Somer et al., 2009). The largelysegregated living arrangements and historic pat-terns of violence in these areas are structuralchallenges that have become entrenched physicallyand socially in the protracted conflict in NorthernIreland. Although instrumental coping mightadvise the distressed person to move away fromthe interfaced neighborhood (Leventhal & Brooks-Gunn, 2000), many mothers living in these areasfeel trapped (Taylor et al., 2011). The lack ofmobility is caused, in part, because potential homebuyers fear the ongoing threat of sectarian crime.Therefore, the protracted nature of the conflictmay limit the utility of problem-focused coping forsectarian stressors. Social coping, or talking withothers in a similar situation, may heighten aware-ness about the inability to change the situation(i.e., sectarian crime), increasing frustration andpsychological distress.

Second, lower quality support (Rodrigo et al.,2007) and depletion of social resources (Zeidner,2006) may be particularly pertinent to sectariancrime. Because of the lack of social mobility,neighbors will also have lived under a prolongedperiod of sectarian stress. Thus, peers in interfacedneighborhoods may provide less adequate adviceabout emotional regulation in response to highlycharged feelings of sectarian threat and insecurity.In a setting of chronic political conflict, sectariancrime may also exacerbate psychological distressbecause mothers anticipate that they will havefuture obligations to provide reciprocal instru-mental or emotional support (Ceballo & McLoyd,2002). Thus, social coping may exacerbate psy-chological distress in response to sectarian crimeboth because the quality of support has beeneroded by historic violence during the Troublesand because mothers foresee having to supportothers trapped in a similar setting. Yet, because ofthe relatively recent increase of nonsectarian crime

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(Monaghan & McLaughlin, 2006), the quality ofinstrumental and emotional coping in response tothis risk factor may not be compromised to thesame degree as with sectarian crime.

Limitations and implications forpotential interventions

There were a number of limitations to the currentstudy. The research design included both objectiveand subjective measures, addressing a potentialconfound of monoreporter bias. Although thecrime data provide measurement of risk at theexosystem level of the social ecology, usingthe police data for electoral ward limits onesability to investigate between-person variationwithin each ward. A second limitation was thatthe latent variable of mental health was con-structed using manifest indicators of wellbeing anddepressive symptoms. Future research could inves-tigate other forms of psychopathology, such asPTS symptoms or anxiety. A third constraint onthe generalizability of the findings was therelationship between marital status and mothersmental health. Although the current study statis-tically controlled for possible differences, futureresearch should investigate whether the processesare the same for single- and two-parent households(Cummings et al., 2010).

A fourth limitation was two time points of data.Although earlier mental health did not relate tosocial coping 1 year later, lending support to thehypothesized direction of effects (Patten et al.,2010), future research may adopt more in-depthmethods, such as daily diaries, to examine thepotential reciprocal relationship between socialcoping and mental health. Finally, the currentstudy focused on social coping; future researchshould include other types of coping strategiessuch as distancing or avoidance that may be moreeffective matches for sectarian violence (Cairns &Wilson, 1989; Somer et al., 2009), and other typesof buffering factor that may help protect mothersmental health.

Despite these limitations, the findings haveimplications for future interventions which targetsocial coping (Lee et al., 2009). Consistent with thecurrent study, previous research has cautionedagainst a blanket policy of interventions that aimto increase social coping through informal support(Lyons, Henly, & Schuerman, 2005). These find-ings also build on previous work which suggeststhat different types of coping may be effective forlow-level distress, such as mental health anddepressive symptoms, but ineffective or even

harmful for more severe forms of maladjustment,such as PTS symptoms (Dillenburger, Fargas, &Akhonzada, 2008). Therefore, future interventionsto protect maternal wellbeing should consider thetype of informal support available (Patten et al.,2010), the severity and type of stressor, and thetype of adjustment problems present for indivi-duals living in environments of protracted conflict.The current study supports calls for more nuancedforms of planning, screening, and implementingsocial coping interventions, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach (Davidson & Leavey, 2010).In summary, the study indicates the importance

of using multiple sources of measurement, disag-gregating types of violence to investigate thestressor/coping match, and the strength of thesocial ecological model as a framework forthe study of resilience and individual wellbeing inconditions of protracted conflict. The specificfindings suggest that there is a good matchbetween nonsectarian violence and social coping;that is, the harmful effects of nonsectarian crimeon maternal mental health can be effectivelybuffered by social coping (Lee et al., 2009;McLoyd, 1990). On the other hand, social copingexacerbates mothers mental health problemsin the face of sectarian crime, yet there may beother types of coping (e.g., distancing, avoidance)that may protect maternal adjustment fromsectarian violence (Cairns & Wilson, 1989; Someret al., 2009). Overall, the findings from the currentstudy suggest that interventions should differenti-ate between types of stressor and coping strategiesto effectively protect mothers from multipleenvironmental risks and promote resiliency in asetting of protracted political conflict.

Manuscript received February 2011

Revised manuscript accepted January 2012

First published online April 2012

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