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Exposure to trauma in childhood is a pervasive problem that is related to deleterious outcomes. Youths’ ability to respond effectively to trauma impacts their outcomes after exposure. The socialization of coping model proposed the processes through which caregivers socialize youth coping. Extant research has examined socialization of coping with limited types of stressors (e.g., medical procedures), and little research has examined the role of peers, who are an important determinant of adolescent behavior. Using a survey of 303 university students (73% female; 82% White) , I examined the relation between adolescent trauma experiences and college student adjustment, the differential impact of peer and caregiver socialization of coping on coping, and the role that one’s own coping plays in the relation between adolescent trauma and poor adjustment. Results revealed that adolescent trauma exposure was related to physical health problems; however, trauma was not related to the other measures of adjustment (i.e., GPA, BMI, mental health problems). Next, peer and caregiver coaching of both approach and avoidant coping was related to one’s own coping; however, peer coping coaching was more strongly related to avoidant coping than caregiver coping coaching. Peer and caregiver relationship quality was neither related to coping nor moderated the relation between coping coaching and coping. Finally, avoidant coping was the strongest predictor of adjustment. Approach coping was largely unrelated to college student adjustment. There was no support for the hypothesis that coping would moderate the effect of trauma on adjustment. These findings provide promising support for peers as a target for interventions to buffer poor adjustment in youth exposed to trauma. Further, screening for traumatic experiences and coping strategies during physical health exams could help assess patients’ risk for physical health problems. Overall, further research is needed to better understand the role of peer socialization of coping as well as buffers that promote better adjustment in trauma-exposed populations.

War is a worldwide problem that exposes families to extreme acts of violence, disrupts family economic and parenting conditions, and can result in poor family psychological outcomes. The contagion of violence model suggests that violence spreads like an infectious disease across levels of the social ecosystem (Boxer et al., 2013). The contagion of violence model also aligns with the family stress model (Conger et al., 1992) in which financial strain and, more recently, exposure to community violence (Westbrook & Harden, 2010), have been shown to increase psychological distress in parents, which in turn leads to poorer parenting behaviors. Exposure to political violence has not yet been tested in the family stress model, but because political violence has been related to increased parental distress and higher rates of child abuse (e.g., Catani, Schauer, & Neuner, 2008), research suggests that exposure to political violence should function as a stressor in the model. Research has also shown that there are differences in parenting across child gender (Dwairy et al., 2006) which may moderate the family stress model. Using a three wave longitudinal study of Palestinian mothers, the present study found that overall exposure to political violence had an indirect effect on mothers’ use of punishment and that this relation was mediated by mothers’ averaged wave 1 and 2 distress (aggression, depression, and intimate partner violence); however, the indirect effect through intimate partner violence was moderated by sex of the child. Family income did not have a significant effect on parenting behaviors; neither exposure to political violence nor family income had a significant effect on parental monitoring. Future parenting interventions may benefit from targeting parental distress to decrease corporal punishment within the context of war and thus decrease the mental health effects of violence on children and their families.