The invisible legacy: What is the impact of ACEs on parenting and child development?

Journal title MALTRATTAMENTO E ABUSO ALL’INFANZIA
Author/s Chiara Ionio, Giulia Ciuffo, Marta Landoni
Publishing Year 2025 Issue 2025/1
Language English Pages 19 P. 65-83 File size 99 KB
DOI 10.3280/MAL2025-001004
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This study investigates the intergenerational transmission of trauma by analyzing the impact of parents’ Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) on parenting and child development. Results show that higher ACEs correlate with increased trauma centrality (r = .460, p < 0.05) and post-traumatic symptoms, including avoidance (r = .509, p < 0.05), hyperarousal (r = .386, p < 0.05) and intrusion (r = .510, p < 0.05). ACEs are also associated with im-paired pa-rental mentalization (r = .518, p < 0.05) and higher parental stress (r = .668, p < 0.05), which in turn predicted children’s emotional dysregulation (ß = 0.338, p = 0.005) and internalizing symptoms (ß = 0.361, p = 0.010). These results emphasize the cyclical nature of trauma and its psychological impact across generations.

Keywords: ACEs, trauma transmission, parental mentalization, emotional dysregulation, intergenerational impact.

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Chiara Ionio, Giulia Ciuffo, Marta Landoni, The invisible legacy: What is the impact of ACEs on parenting and child development? in "MALTRATTAMENTO E ABUSO ALL’INFANZIA" 1/2025, pp 65-83, DOI: 10.3280/MAL2025-001004