RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Intergenerational Pathways Between Parental Experiences of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Child Weight: Implications for Intervention
JF The Journal of the American Board of Family
                Medicine
JO J Am Board Fam Med
FD American Board of Family Medicine
SP 39
OP 50
DO 10.3122/jabfm.2022.220134R1
VO 36
IS 1
A1 Jerica M. Berge
A1 Allan Tate
A1 Amanda Trofholz
A1 Alicia Kunin-Batson
YR 2023
UL http://www.jabfm.org/content/36/1/39.abstract
AB Background/Objective: Prior research suggests an association between parental experiencing of 1 or more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and increased risk for overweight/obesity in children. However, the pathways through which parental experiences of ACEs lead to child weight are unclear.Methods: Participants were parent and child dyads from racially/ethnically diverse and low-income households in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, in 2015. Parents completed an online survey regarding their own adverse experiences in childhood, their height and weight, parenting practices, and mental health. Child height and weight were obtained from electronic medical records. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the extent to which parent mental health and parenting practices mediate associations between parental ACEs and child body mass index (BMI) percentile.Results: The parent mental health pathway was statistically significant in explaining the intergenerational transmission of parental ACEs to child weight. Parent ACEs were positively associated with low parent mental health, parent low mental health was correlated with higher parent BMI > 25, and parent overweight was positively related to higher child BMI percentile.Conclusions: Study findings suggest that intervening on parent low mental health may be a key factor in reducing the intergenerational transmission between parental ACEs and child weight.