Fathers' adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and offspring health and wellbeing

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PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Background: With 61% of US adults having experienced at least 1 adverse childhood experience (ACE), ACEs are common. ACEs, childhood exposure to potentially traumatic events in the home or community environment prior to the age of 18, are linked with poor health and mental health outcomes, health behaviors, and parenting practices across the life course. Emerging research has highlighted the cascading consequences of ACEs across generations with a primary focus on mothers leaving aside fathers. As fathers play a critical role in child development and disruptive fathering practices negatively influence offspring wellbeing, it is essential to include fathers when examining the repercussions ACEs have across generations. Moreover, research to date has not only used a narrow definition of ACEs, neglecting to account for adversities which occur in the community environments, but has also overlooked the role of the coparents’ ACEs. Guided by the life course perspective, the proposed study addresses these gaps in the literature by using two national cohort studies and a robust measure of ACEs (including adversities that occur both in the home and community environments) to examine the relationships between fathers’ ACEs, fathers’ behavioral health, fathering, and offspring health and wellbeing. The proposed study will also be among the first to explore the within parent experience of ACEs on offspring health and wellbeing. Methods: Aim 1 will use data from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) and structural equational modeling (SEM) to examine the linkages between fathers’ ACEs and their behavioral health and fathering practices. Aims 2 and 3 will use data from the Fathers and Families (F&F) cohort study. Aim 2 will use SEM to examine fathers’ behavioral health and fathering as pathways by which fathers’ ACEs are transmitted to their children’s health outcomes. Aim 3, an exploratory aim, will use SEM and dyadic methods to explore the within parent dyad experience of ACEs on offspring health outcomes. To successfully carry out these Aims, the proposed training plan includes building knowledge in the maternal and child health and child development fields as well as in data management and dyadic methods. The research proposal and training will take place at Boston College. Implications and Public Health Significance: The proposed study is unique and results will further the understanding of how pre- and post-conception factors shape fathers’ behavioral health, fathering behaviors, and consequently offspring outcomes. A better understanding of the within parent dyad experience of ACEs on offspring health and wellbeing has implications for family interventions.