Fathers' and Mothers' Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Their Children's Behavior Problems

Background and Purpose: A large body of literature has linked adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) with negative adult health outcomes. Research has also indicated the harmful physical and mental health consequences of ACEs may be felt across generations. For example, parental ACEs are associated with children’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Despite evidence that both parents influence child health and development, studies that examine the long-term consequences of ACEs across generations have focused exclusively on one parent, namely the mother. Yet, due to the high prevalence of ACEs and assortative mating patterns, many children are likely to have two parents with a history of ACEs. To address this gap in the literature, this study integrated concepts from dyadic health science and family systems theory to examine the associations between the interactive influence of fathers’ and mothers’ home- and community-based ACEs and their children’s behavior problems. We hypothesize a synergistic effect whereby high ACEs in both parents is associated with worse behavior outcomes for children.

Methods: This study used data from 350 father-mother dyads from Fathers and Families, a cohort of fathers of 2-7 year-old children and their co-parents. Fathers and mothers independently reported on their own ACEs. Fathers reported on their children’s behavior problems using the Preschool Pediatric Symptom Checklist. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regressions were used to examine the associations between mothers’ and fathers’ ACEs and their children’s behavior problems, adjusting for pre-exposure covariates. A within-couple interaction term between the fathers’ and mothers’ ACEs was added to the model to examine the interactive influence of mothers’ and fathers’ ACEs. Home- (i.e., abuse, household dysfunction) and community-based (i.e., discrimination, community violence) ACEs were examined in separate models.

Results: Neither mothers’ nor fathers’ home-based ACEs were independently associated with their children’s behavior problems. However, a significant interaction between mothers’ and fathers’ home-based ACEs (b = -0.38, p < .01) indicated that when mothers’ ACEs were low and fathers’ ACEs were high, children exhibited more behavior problems compared to when both fathers’ and mothers’ ACEs were low or when both fathers’ and mothers’ ACEs were high. For community-based ACEs, there was a positive association between mothers’ ACEs and their children’s behavior problems (b = 1.01, p < .01). The interaction term for community-based ACEs was also significant (b = -0.64, p < .05). Children’s behavior problems were highest when mothers’ community-based ACEs were high and fathers’ community-based ACEs were low compared to when fathers and mothers were more similar in ACEs (i.e., both reported low ACEs or both reported high ACEs).

Conclusions and Implications: Findings from this study highlight the importance of adopting a cross-disciplinary lens, by blending concepts from dyadic health and family science, when examining the intergenerational transmission of ACEs on children’s outcomes. In doing so, findings from this study suggest incongruence in parental ACEs are associated with worse outcomes for children. Future work must be conducted to explore potential pathways of transmission (i.e., co-parent quality, parenting practices, parental mental health).