Exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been associated with numerous poor physical and mental health outcomes across the lifespan. As such, the goals of ACE research have shifted from delineating how ACEs negatively affect health outcomes to developing strategies for preventing ACEs. Yet, understanding how ACEs are transmitted, within the context of families, is underdeveloped. Relatively little research has examined factors contributing to ACE transmission across generations, with most existing research focused on how ACE exposure contributes to poorer health outcomes across generations. As the study of ACEs continues to broaden, I argue that it is critical to understand how parent characteristics may protect against transmission of ACEs across generations. This dissertation adds to the growing body of literature addressing ACE transmission in families. This study has two research aims. The first aim examined the associations between parent ACE score and child ACE score, parent emotion regulation (ER), and coercive parenting behaviors. I hypothesized that parent ACE score would be associated with higher child ACE scores, ER difficulties, and more coercive parenting behaviors. The second aim examined potential mediating variables across three models. My main hypothesis was that parent ER and coercive parenting behaviors would mediate the association between parent ACE score and child ACE score. A total of 125 respondents participated in this study. A path analysis was used to evaluate the research aims. Findings for aim one showed that parent ACE score was positively and significantly associated with parent ER difficulties. Findings for aim two identified that parent ER and coercive parenting behaviors were statistically significant as mediating variables between parent ACE score and child ACE score. Findings from this study suggest a potential pathway of ACE transmission between parents and children operating through parent ER difficulties and coercive parenting. The role of parent ER difficulties was most salient in the findings, suggesting that efforts to support parent ER may be one avenue for mitigating the transmission of ACEs in families. The results suggest therapists working with parents and children with ACE exposure should work to increase ER skills. Future research should continue to investigate the unique dimensions of parent ER and coercive parenting behaviors as mechanisms of ACE transmission as these findings suggest this may be one avenue in buffering ACE exposure in families. These findings should also encourage researchers to consider alternative mechanisms of transmission.
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