Incongruence in fathers' and mothers' adverse childhood experiences and children's behavior problems

ABSTRACT Objective To examine associations between (in)congruence within parent dyads' adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and children's behavior problems. Background Despite evidence that both parents influence child health, studies on multigenerational consequences of ACEs have focused on one parent. Yet many children have two parents exposed to ACEs. Fathers' and mothers' ACEs may intersect, and their shared, or differing, experience of ACEs may have implications for children's health and development. Methods Participants were 400 father–mother dyads from a cohort study. Parents reported on their own home‐based (i.e., abuse, household dysfunction) and community‐based (i.e., discrimination, community violence) ACEs. Fathers reported on children's behavior problems. Three dyadic variables for parent ACEs were created in a structural equation model: parent‐dyad ACE average, absolute magnitude of incongruence in ACEs, and direction of incongruence in ACEs. Ordinary least squares regressions examined associations between dyadic ACEs variables and children's behavior problems. Separate models were estimated for home‐ and community‐based ACEs. Results Greater incongruence in parental community‐based ACEs was associated with behavior problems in children ( B = 1.04, p < .05). Conclusion Dissimilar experiences of parental community‐based ACEs may have implications for children. Implications To support the development of couple‐level interventions, research should examine pathways of transmission (i.e., coparenting quality).