Citation

Park J, Song MK, Cho A, Yang HYJ, Lee H. Eur. J. Psychotraumatol. 2024; 15(1): e2372994.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2024, The Author(s), Publisher Co-action Publishing)

DOI

10.1080/20008066.2024.2372994

PMID

38984740

PMCID

PMC11238651

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have negative impacts on women with children, including psychosocial and general health problems. However, there is limited research investigating ACEs identifying the characteristics of distinct subgroups according to the frequency of ACEs.

OBJECTIVE: Utilizing the national dataset of the Family with Children Life Experience 2017, this study aimed to classify patterns of ACEs based on the total number of types of ACEs and the types of predominant events, and to examine differences in general and psychological characteristics, as well as experiences of violence in adulthood among the classes identified.

METHOD: A total of 460 Korean mothers raising infants or toddlers participated. Latent class analysis was performed to classify the patterns of ACEs, while t-tests and Chi-square tests were used to examine differences in general and psychological characteristics and experiences of violence between the ACEs subgroups.

RESULTS: The participants were classified into two subgroups: the 'high-ACEs group' and the 'low-ACEs group'. The high-ACEs group exhibited higher rates of child abuse, workplace violence perpetration and victimization, as well as lower self-esteem, higher depression levels, and increased suicidal thoughts compared to those of the low-ACEs group.

CONCLUSION: The findings highlight the significant role of ACEs on the formation of an individual's psychological characteristics and their propensity to experience additional violence even into adulthood, as perpetrators and as victims. It is noteworthy how the influence of ACEs extends across generations through child abuse. These findings offer insights for developing interventions aimed at mitigating the negative effects of experiences of violence on mothers raising young children.

Language: en

Keywords

Humans; Adult; Child, Preschool; Infant; Female; Self Concept; Republic of Korea; latent class analysis; Adverse childhood experiences; mothers; *Adverse Childhood Experiences/statistics & numerical data; Child Abuse/psychology/statistics & numerical data; *Mothers/psychology/statistics & numerical data; *Latent Class Analysis; adulthood health outcomes; adulthood violence; análisis de clases latentes; Crime Victims/psychology/statistics & numerical data; Depression/psychology; Experiencias adversas en la infancia; madres; resultados de salud en la adultez; violencia en la adultez