BACKGROUND: Previous evidence supports the intergenerational links between parental adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and offspring emotional problems. However, the mediating mechanism remains unclear. OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether parenting stress and parenting styles (warmth, rejection, overprotection) mediate the associations between parental ACEs and adolescents' anxiety and depression, controlling for parental mental health. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: 2249 parent-adolescent dyads from high schools in China's Greater Bay Area (Parent Mean age = 41.16 years; adolescents Mean age = 14.18 years). METHODS: At baseline, parents reported ACEs, parenting stress, and mental health; adolescents reported parenting styles. One year later, adolescents reported anxiety and depression symptoms. Structural equation modelling tested mediation. RESULTS: Parental ACEs predicted greater parental rejection and parenting stress. Rejection predicted higher, and warmth predicted lower, adolescent anxiety and depression. Overall, parenting factors significantly mediated the ACE-outcomes link, with a notable pathway via rejection. These mediating pathways were stronger for fathers and male adolescents. CONCLUSION: Parenting factors, especially parental rejection, mediate the intergenerational transmission of ACEs to adolescent internalizing symptoms. Parenting interventions should target these factors while considering gender differences.
Zhang et al. (Tue,) studied this question.