The Role Of Maternal Adverse Childhood Experiences On The Psychological And Behavioral Problems Of Preschool Children

ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate the role of maternal adverse childhood experiences（ACEs）on the psychological and behavioral problems of preschool children aged 3 to 6as well as the difference by gender in Hefei city.MethodsFrom March to August 2020,the research group adopted a stratified cluster sampling method and selected respectively two kindergartens from 12 districts in Hefei city.We selected all the children in each kindergarten with a total of 7,806 students for the questionnaire survey.7,318 valid questionnaires were collected and the effective response rate was 93.75%.We carried out the survey by questionnaires about childhood experiences（from seven aspects including physical abuse,emotional abuse,physical neglect,emotional neglect,community violence,peer bullying,and household dysfunction）and Conners’Parent Symptom Questionnaire,collected information about general demographic indicators,maternal ACEs and child psychological and behavioral problems,adoptedχ~2to analyze the difference of child psychological and behavioral problems detection rate among maternal ACEs detection rate.We also established a multivariate logistic regression model to control relevant confounding factors,analyzed the correlation between different types of maternal ACEs and child psychological and behavioral problems,and calculated the relative odds ratio（ROR）to compare the gender difference in correlation intensity between maternal ACEs and child psychological and behavioral problems.ResultsThe analysis results of this study are as follows.First,the prevalence of psychological and behavioral problems in preschool children was 16.0%,while it was higher among girls（18.4%）than boys（13.92%）（χ~2=27.979,P<0.001）.Second,in both the unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression models,the association between maternal ACEs and the psychological and behavioral problems of preschool children was significant.Further analysis was conducted to examine whether there were associations for maternal ACEs in preschool children’s different types of psychological and behavioral problems.Maternal ACEs were associated with increased risk of each type of psychological and behavioral problems in preschool children except for maternal emotional neglect with psycho-physical problems,impulse-activities,and anxiety.Third,each type of maternal ACEs was positively associated with psychological and behavioral problems of preschool boys and girls,except that emotional neglect is not associated with psychological and behavioral problems in girls.No significant gender differences were found in the independent effects of maternal ACEs on overall psychological and behavioral problems of preschool children.Further analysis was conducted to examine whether there were gender differences for maternal ACEs in preschool children’s specific types of psychological and behavioral problems.When mothers were exposed to emotional abuse or ACEs overall,boys had a lower risk of engaging in conduct problems than girls（ROR value was 0.61 and 0.47 respectively,all P<0.05）.When mothers were exposed to physical abuse or community violence,boys had a lower risk of reporting anxiety than girls（ROR value was 0.66 to 0.65respectively,all P<0.05）.ConclusionMaternal ACEs were associated with an increased risk of psychological and behavioral problems in preschool children,and there were some gender differences between them.Carrying out targeted intervention is beneficial to the prevention and control of psychological and behavioral problems in preschool children.In the future,we need to carry out cohort studies to further clarify the correlation between maternal ACEs and psychological and behavioral problems in preschool children and the underlying social psychological and biological mechanisms.More attention should focus on the inter-generational impact of adversity.