Poster #56 - ACEs and Chaotic Home Environment Mediate the Associations Between Parent and Child Impulsivity

• In Event: Poster Session 01

Abstract

Past research suggests that impulsivity may be transmitted from parents to children through environmental processes, such as chaotic home environments, poor parenting, and the modeling of impulsive behavior (Baek et al., 2022; Peviani et al., 2019; Straus & Mouradian, 1998). Specifically, higher child impulsivity has been associated with chaotic home environments, lower parent-child and couple relationship quality, and higher parental impulsivity (Baek et al., 2022; Ellis, 2022; Eysenck, 1993; Joo & Lee, 2020; Neto & True, 2011). Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have also been strongly associated with later impulsivity among adolescents (Chapple et al., 2021; Liu, 2019). Past research suggests that higher impulsivity is associated with harsher parenting practices, which perpetuates ACEs (Bridgett et al., 2015; Treat et al., 2017). The present study aims to extend past research by incorporating these associations into an integrative model to better explain the development of child impulsivity. This model proposes that parental impulsivity predicts child impulsivity via ACEs, chaotic home environment, parent-child relationship quality, and couple relationship quality. Specifically, we hypothesize that higher parental impulsivity will be associated with environmental chaos, higher ACE scores, and poorer parent-child and couple relationship, which will then be associated with increased child impulsivity.
Data were drawn from 4,898 participants of the Fragile Families and Child Well Being Study. Parents in this study were 20% White, 48% Black, 27% Hispanic, and 5% other ethnicities. Parents reported on chaotic home environment (i.e., ‘Can’t hear yourself think in your home’) at child age 9; couple relationship quality (i.e., commitment level and satisfaction) at child age 5; father impulsivity at child age 1; mother impulsivity at child age 3; and ACEs (i.e., physical and emotional neglect or abuse, household substance use, and exposure to violence) at child ages 3, 5, and 9. Children reported on the caregiver-child relationship at child age 9; and impulsivity at child age 15.
We tested our hypotheses in Mplus version 8.2 (Muthén & Muthén, 1998-2017), which utilizes full information maximum likelihood estimation to accommodate partial missing data. We used path analysis to examine the direct effects, and indirect effects were tested within the path analysis using bias-corrected bootstrap resampling. Results revealed that ACEs and chaotic home environments were positively and significantly related to child impulsivity. In contrast, parent-child relationship quality was negatively and significantly associated with child impulsivity. Furthermore, mother and father impulsivity were both positively and significantly related to chaotic home environment and ACE score and negatively related to couple relationship quality. Finally, ACE score and chaotic home environment significantly mediated the relationship between parent and child impulsivity.
The results partially support our hypotheses. ACE score and chaotic home environment mediated the relationship between parent and child impulsivity above and beyond other predictors. However, parent-child and couple relationship quality were not significant mediators in the presence of other predictors. These results suggest potential targets for interventions to reduce the intergenerational transmission of impulsivity. They also suggest that interventions to reduce parental impulsivity may reduce the intergenerational cycle of childhood trauma.

Authors

• Elizabeth Anne Bond, University of Dayton
  Presenting Author

• Abigail Marie Albrinck, University of Dayton

• Jackson A. Goodnight