Adverse childhood experiences to adult adversity trends among parents: Socioeconomic, health, and developmental implications

Exposures to adverse childhood experiences compromise the early developmental foundation of people long before they become parents. These exposures partly take place within the family environment -- a context tightly shared by parents and children. Despite considerable evidence regarding effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), differential patterns of childhood and adulthood adversity accumulation among currently parenting adults is relatively less understood. The present study helps address this gap using the 2011 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Washington State data of respondents ages 18 and older who are currently parenting a minor child. Results demonstrate the proliferative nature of adversities, increasing risk of elevated life course stress, as well as parental socioeconomic, health and functioning outcomes that affect the family environment. Findings also suggest the resilience of some parents who, despite exposures to ACEs, were able to avoid heightened adversities in later life that could pose risk to their children’s developmental environments. •Findings provide a snapshot of the shared family environment contexts of parents and their minor children as a function of parental adversity histories; specifically through variations in socioeconomic and parental health factors that constitute their children’s context of development.•Results provide further evidence of the proliferative nature of adversities as they are likely to diffuse across domains, evidenced by the worse physical and mental health and more significant health risk behaviors of those experiencing sustained high adversity trajectory.•Despite this concerning picture for parents and children in highly stressed home environments, the evidence presented in this study demonstrates that for some parents with higher ACE exposures, the accumulation does not continue into adulthood. This finding suggests the resilience of some parents who, despite their exposure to ACEs, can prevent the heightened exposure of their children to adversities.