Disrupting the Cycle of Intergenerational Adversity through Parenting: A Multidisciplinary Approach

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), including child maltreatment and other traumatic events, are not only linked to many poor outcomes in adulthood, but also have negative intergenerational effects. A parent with high ACEs is more likely to raise a child at risk of having ACEs as well. Exposure to ACEs may alter parents’ ability to engage in sensitive, responsive parenting. Although substantial research demonstrates the intergenerational transmission of ACEs, little is known about how to break the cycle of adversity, particularly through parenting behavior and practices. Given the numerous disciplines investigating ACEs, identifying and promoting optimal parenting strategies that incorporate a multidisciplinary approach is needed. Furthermore, a multidisciplinary approach may shed light on diverse risk and protective factors that either facilitate or impair positive parenting. This symposium will integrate perspectives from clinical and developmental psychology, biological psychiatry, and public health to promote a nuanced understanding of how contextual risk and protective factors influence parenting. Paper 1 investigates how ACEs, maternal care in childhood, and hypertension predict observed maternal responsiveness and self-reported parenting stress and efficacy across the perinatal period. Paper 2 uses repeated postpartum neuroimaging to explore how ACEs affect new mothers’ brain responses to emotionally valanced infant faces, with important implications for parenting. Paper 3 examines how individual and social norms around ACEs, resilience, and equity impact parenting beliefs salient for child abuse prevention. The discussant – a practice and policy expert – will facilitate conversations on incorporating these findings into child abuse prevention interventions targeting multiple generations to strengthen family resilience.

Sub Unit

• Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Chair

• Lindsay Huffhines, Brown University Medical School

Discussant

• Bart Klika, Prevent Child Abuse America

Individual Presentations

• Maternal Early Life Experiences and Perinatal Hypertensive Disorders Predict Parenting Stress, Efficacy, and Responsiveness - Presenting Author: Lindsay Huffhines, Brown University Medical School; Non-Presenting Author: Jesse L Coe, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Non-Presenting Author: Margaret Bublitz, The Miriam Hospital; Non-Presenting Author: Ronald Seifer, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Non-Presenting Author: Stephanie H Parade, Brown University

• Maternal History of Child Maltreatment and Neural Activation to Infant Cues in the Fourth Trimester - Presenting Author: Margaret Bublitz, The Miriam Hospital; Non-Presenting Author: James E. Swain, Stony Brook Unviersity; Non-Presenting Author: Shoshanna Lustig, The Miriam Hospital; Non-Presenting Author: Christine Barthelemy, Bradley Hospital; Non-Presenting Author: Lena DeYoung, Bradley Hospital; Non-Presenting Author: Daniel P Dickstein, McLean Hospital

• How do Social Norms Around Child Maltreatment, Child Well-Being Impact Opinions about Parenting? - Presenting Author: Aditi Srivastav, Children’s Trust of South Carolina