The Relationship Between Neighborhood Safety, Paternal Presence and Somatic Symptoms of Dissociation in Children

Introduction Child exposure to prolonged stressful home environments can lead to life-long patterns that are later misdiagnosed in adulthood as anxiety disorders, ADHD and depressive disorders, among others. In theory, paternal involvement and neighborhood safety are strong buffers against toxic stress and therefore dissociative symptoms in children. The relationship between paternal involvement and rates of violence in the neighborhood and rates of dissociative symptoms in children are not yet fully understood. This study investigates the relationship between paternal involvement or neighborhood safety on somatic symptoms of dissociation in children. Methods This was a retrospective study based on the open-source dataset from Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three-City Study, Dataset 0005 (Angel et al., 2012). A cross-tab analysis investigated the relationship between 1) the likelihood of neighborhood assaults and 2) how often the child saw/spoke to their father in the last year with the likelihood of a child having a) concentration issues, b) confusion, c) being lost in thought, d) hearing voices and e) staring blankly. Results Results: show that children who lived in neighborhoods where there were more muggings and assaults were more likely to be staring blankly and have concentration problems. Children who saw or talked to their father less were more likely to have concentration problems. Lastly, children who saw their fathers less often were more likely to hear voices that were not there. Conclusion This study showed a relationship between rates of violence in the neighborhood and paternal presence and symptoms of dissociation in children. This suggests that the lived experience of the child affects their cognition and can be impacted by living in unsafe areas and not being able to see or speak with their father. Dissociative symptoms are linked with an increased risk of substance abuse, suicide attempts, heart disease, cancer, and skeletal fractures. Understanding factors that affect dissociation will provide opportunities to prevent childhood dissociation.