A multisystem, dimensional interplay of assets versus adversities: Revised benevolent childhood experiences (BCEs) in the context of childhood maltreatment, threat, and deprivation

Positive childhood experiences support emotional and behavioral health in middle childhood: Longitudinal mediation of adverse childhood experiences

BACKGROUND

Fostering positive childhood experiences (PCEs) is a key prevention strategy, however there is a scarcity of longitudinal studies that explore the role of PCEs with childhood outcomes.

OBJECTIVE

This study examined the impact of middle childhood PCEs in the presence of earlier adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on indices of behavioral and emotional development.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

1163 participants from the U.S. Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project (EHSRE).

METHODS

Ten PCEs indicators (PCE-G5) that align with the Health Outcomes from Positive Experiences (HOPE) framework were identified in the Grade 5 EHSRE data. The convergent validity of the PCE-G5 for internalizing, externalizing, and social problems was tested with hierarchical linear regressions, controlling for infant/toddler ACEs (ACE-IT). We also examined whether PCE-G5 mediated the association between ACE-IT and internalizing, externalizing, and social problems using path analyses.

RESULTS

Children had 7.6 PCEs, on average. PCE-G5 scores were associated with fewer internalizing (β = -1.000, p < 0.001), externalizing (β = -1.183, p < 0.001), and social problems (β = -0.420, p < 0.001). PCE-G5 partially mediated the effect of ACE-IT on internalizing, externalizing, and social problems (respective indirect effects β = 0.027; β = 0.028; β = 0.037; all p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Our study adds evidence of an inverse association between PCEs and middle childhood behavioral and emotional problems. The mediating impact of PCEs suggests that the exposure to early childhood ACEs may reduce the opportunities for involvement in PCEs, thereby increasing the risks for internalizing behavior, externalizing behavior, and social problems. Findings highlight the benefit of opportunities for PCEs for children who have been exposed to ACEs.

The Role of School Engagement in the Link Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Adolescent Mental Health

PURPOSE

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) increase the risk for poor adolescent mental health, yet mediational pathways that connect ACEs with mental health problems remain unaddressed. Our study investigates whether school involvement and disengagement mediate the longitudinal associations between ACEs and adolescent mental health problems.

METHODS

Using data from the longitudinal Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, this study included 7,558 adolescents aged 9-10 years at baseline. ACEs were a cumulative risk score of 21 adverse experiences (e.g., emotional abuse, community violence) reported by parents and youths at baseline or 1-year follow-up. School involvement and disengagement were reported by youths at two-year follow-up. Internalizing and externalizing problems were reported by parents using the Child Behavior Checklist at 3-year follow-up.

RESULTS

A higher ACE score was associated with decreased school involvement (β = -0.08, 95% CI = [-0.10, -0.05]) and increased school disengagement (β = 0.09, 95% CI = [0.06, 0.11]) one year later, and with increased internalizing (β = 0.10, 95% CI = [0.07, 0.12]) and externalizing problems (β = 0.08, 95% CI = [0.06, 0.10]) 2 years later, adjusted for demographics and baseline mental health and school engagement levels. Decreased school involvement and increased disengagement mediated the associations between ACEs with the change in internalizing and externalizing problems over time.

DISCUSSION

The present study highlights the roles of school involvement and disengagement in linking ACEs to worsened mental health outcomes. The findings may inform tailored school-based interventions that address mental health challenges faced by adolescents exposed to ACEs.

Emergence and evolution of developmental resilience science over half a century

This reflection on the history and future of developmental resilience science (DRS) highlights its co-emergence with developmental psychopathology (DP), as well as the roles of this journal and its founding editor, Dante Cicchetti, in the evolution of these intertwined domains of scholarship. A remarkable constellation of scholars at the University of Minnesota shaped the course of both conceptual frameworks and their dissemination. I describe fundamental assumptions common to DP and DRS frameworks that reflect their common roots and the pervasive influence of systems theory on developmental science. I describe four waves of DRS and key principles of DRS at the present time. In conclusion, I consider the possibility that a fifth wave of DRS is emerging with a focus on understanding patterns of multisystem, multilevel processes of resilience and their implications for interventions in the context of interacting, interdependent, and complex adaptive systems. I close this commentary with questions for future research and a hopeful outlook on the future of human resilience.

The future of childhood maltreatment research: Diversity and equity-informed perspectives for inclusive methodology and social justice

A long-standing practice in clinical and developmental psychology research on childhood maltreatment has been to consider prospective, official court records to be the gold standard measure of childhood maltreatment and to give less weight to adults' retrospective self-reports of childhood maltreatment, sometimes even treating this data source as invalid. We argue that both formats of assessment - prospective and retrospective - provide important information on childhood maltreatment. Prospective data drawn from court records should not necessarily be considered the superior format, especially considering evidence of structural racism in child welfare. Part I overviews current maltreatment definitions in the context of the developmental psychopathology (DP) framework that has guided maltreatment research for over 40 years. Part II describes the ongoing debate about the disproportionalities of minoritized children at multiple decision-making stages of the child welfare system and the role that racism plays in many minoritized families' experience of this system. Part III offers alternative interpretations for the lack of concordance between prospective, official records of childhood maltreatment and retrospective self-reports, and for the differential associations between each format of data with health outcomes. Moving forward, we recommend that future DP research on childhood maltreatment apply more inclusive, diversity and equity-informed approaches when assessing and interpreting the effects of childhood maltreatment on lifespan and intergenerational outcomes. We encourage future generations of DP scholars to use assessment methods that affirm the lived experiences of individuals and families who have directly experienced maltreatment and the child welfare system.

Intergenerational transmission of adverse and positive childhood experiences and associations with child well-being

BACKGROUND

Parental adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) contribute to offspring adversity and poor health outcomes, but little is known about whether and to what extent parental positive childhood experiences (PCEs) influence offspring positive experiences and well-being.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the association between parent and child ACEs and PCEs and their impact on child well-being and psychopathology.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

A national sample of n = 1016 US parents of 1-5-year-olds completed online surveys in September 2019.

METHODS

Mediation analysis in a path modeling framework was used with stratified probability weights for generalizability to the US population.

RESULTS

Each additional parent PCE equated to 0.32 (95 % CI: 0.20, 0.45) increase in child PCEs and each additional parent ACE equated to 0.18 (95 % CI: 0.06, 0.31) increase in child PCEs and 0.13 (95 % CI: 0.08, 0.18) increase in child ACEs. In turn, an increase in 1 child PCE was associated with 0.10-0.16 SD increase in well-being and 0.06-0.10 decrease in psychopathology, and each additional child ACE equated to 0.10-0.18 SD increase in psychopathology.

CONCLUSIONS

Results support the intergenerational transmission of PCEs and ACEs, advancing understanding of the role that parent PCEs play in promoting child PCEs and fostering child well-being. Findings underscore the importance of extending clinical surveillance of ACEs to include PCEs in pediatric and adult healthcare settings. Dual-generation programs that address the negative consequences of parental ACEs may be able to increase their impact by adding a parallel emphasis on PCEs and providing parents with tools to foster PCEs in their children.

Effects of adverse childhood experiences on observed parenting and children's behavior problems among Jewish and Arab Muslim families in Israel

Research points to the substantial impact of parents' exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on parents and their children. However, most studies have been conducted in North America, and research on ACEs effects on observed parenting or on intergenerational transmission of ACE effects is limited. We therefore studied families from diverse ethnocultural backgrounds in Israel and examined whether mothers' ACEs hampered maternal sensitivity and the quality of the home environment and whether mothers' psychological distress mediated these links. We also explored whether mothers' ACEs predicted children's behavior problems indirectly through maternal psychological distress and whether maternal sensitivity and the home environment attenuated this mediating path. Participants were 232 mothers (Mchild age = 18.40 months, SD = 1.76; 63.36% non-ultra-Orthodox Jewish, 17.24% ultra-Orthodox Jewish, 19.40% Arab Muslim). Results showed mothers' ACEs were directly associated with decreased maternal sensitivity. Mothers' ACEs were indirectly associated with more behavior problems in children through mothers' higher psychological distress, and maternal sensitivity moderated this indirect link; it was significant only for mothers who showed lower sensitivity. Findings emphasize the significant role ACEs play in early mother-child relationships. The importance of including ACE assessment in research and practice with families of infants and toddlers is discussed.

Characterizing the heterogeneity of disruptions in the resolution of trauma among women exposed to childhood maltreatment

The previously observed heterogeneity in developmental and intergenerational trajectories of childhood trauma may root from interindividual differences in the way trauma-exposed individuals have resolved these experiences. The current study explored whether distinctive patterns of impaired mentalization in relation to trauma could be identified in a sample of 825 pregnant women who experienced childhood maltreatment and whether these heterogeneous patterns were marked by significant differences in internalized and externalized problems during pregnancy, intimate partner violence, personality dysfunctions, and antenatal attachment. A latent profile analysis applied to the seven subscales of the Failure to Mentalize Trauma Questionnaire unraveled interindividual variability in mentalizing impairments among pregnant women exposed to childhood maltreatment by identifying five distinctive types of psychological responses to trauma, each being associated in cross-sectional analyses with a specific set of symptoms and dysfunctions. Overall, the study highlights the need for tailored interventions based on the individuals' specific impairments in mentalizing trauma and calls for future developmental research exploring the longitudinal correlates of the five documented profiles of trauma processing.

A replication and extension of adverse and benevolent childhood experiences along with contemporaneous social support and sociodemographic stress for perinatal mental health problems

This study replicated and extended Narayan and colleagues' (2018) original benevolent childhood experiences (BCEs) study. We examined associations between adverse and positive childhood experiences and mental health problems in a second sample of low-income, ethnically diverse pregnant individuals (replication). We also examined effects of childhood experiences on perinatal mental health problems while accounting for contemporaneous support and stress (extension). Participants were 175 pregnant individuals (M = 28.07 years, SD = 5.68, range = 18-40; 38.9% White, 25.7% Latina, 16.6% Black, 12.0% biracial/multiracial, 6.8% other) who completed standardized instruments on BCEs, childhood maltreatment and exposure to family dysfunction, sociodemographic stress, and perinatal depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. They completed the Five-Minute Speech Sample at pregnancy and postpartum to assess social support from the other biological parent. Higher family dysfunction predicted higher prenatal depression symptoms, while higher BCEs and prenatal social support predicted lower prenatal PTSD symptoms. Prenatal depression and prenatal PTSD symptoms were the most robust predictors of postnatal depression and PTSD symptoms, respectively, although higher postnatal social support also predicted lower postnatal PTSD symptoms. Findings replicated many patterns found in the original BCEs study and indicated that contemporaneous experiences are also associated with perinatal mental health problems.

Interstitial cystitis-an imbalance of risk and protective factors?

Interstitial cystitis (IC) presents as a chronic pain condition with variable combinations of symptoms depending on the species and individual patient. It is diagnosed by the presence of lower urinary tract signs and symptoms in combination with a variety of comorbid health problems, a history of life adversities, and the absence of other conditions that could cause the lower urinary tract signs. IC occurs naturally in humans and cats as a dimensional condition, with patients presenting with mild, moderate, and severe symptoms. Most patients appear to recover without specific treatment. A number of rodent models of IC have been used to study its causes and treatments. Unfortunately, current therapies generally fail to ameliorate IC symptoms long-term. The recent classification of IC as a chronic primary pain disorder calls for a rethinking of current clinical and research approaches to it. Beginning when a patient encounters a clinician, precipitating, perpetuating, and palliating risk factors can be addressed until a cause or reliably effective therapy is identified, and identifying predisposing and preventive factors can inform epidemiological studies and health promotion interventions. Predisposing, precipitating, and perpetuating risk factors, including environmental, psychological, and biological, increase the activity of the central threat response system (CTRS), which plays a clinically important role in IC symptoms. Studies in cats and rodent models have revealed that environmental enrichment (EE), in the absence of bladder-directed therapies, leads to amelioration of IC symptoms, implying a central role for the CTRS in symptom precipitation and perpetuation. Conceptually moving the source of IC pain to the brain as a motivational state rather than one resulting from peripheral nociceptive input offers both clinicians and researchers novel opportunities to improve care for patients with IC and for researchers to use more ecologically valid rodent models. It may even be that IC results from an excess of risk to protective factors, making this imbalance a targetable cause rather than a consequence of IC.

Stressful life events and prenatal representations of the child

Caregivers' mental representations of their children can be assessed prenatally and are prospectively associated with later caregiving quality and caregiver-child attachment. Compared to balanced, distorted or disengaged representations are linked to insecure caregiver-child attachments. The present study explored factors (i.e. stressful life experiences and positive experiences) that may be linked to risk for distorted and disengaged representations. We used a brief version of the Prenatal Working Model of the Child Interview in a sample of 298 pregnant people (ages 19 to 45 years; M = 30.83, SD = 5.00) between gestational age 11-38 weeks (M = 23.49, SD = 5.70). A greater number of stressful events across three developmental periods (i.e., lifespan, childhood, and pregnancy) were related to increased odds of distorted, compared to balanced classification. Pregnancy stress had the largest association. Positive experiences from childhood did not buffer the association between stress and representations. Findings highlight the importance of stress on prenatal representations of one's child.

The promise and pitfalls of a strength-based approach to child poverty and neurocognitive development: Implications for policy

There has been significant progress in understanding the effects of childhood poverty on neurocognitive development. This progress has captured the attention of policymakers and promoted progressive policy reform. However, the prevailing emphasis on the harms associated with childhood poverty may have inadvertently perpetuated a deficit-based narrative, focused on the presumed shortcomings of children and families in poverty. This focus can have unintended consequences for policy (e.g., overlooking strengths) as well as public discourse (e.g., focusing on individual rather than systemic factors). Here, we join scientists across disciplines in arguing for a more well-rounded, "strength-based" approach, which incorporates the positive and/or adaptive developmental responses to experiences of social disadvantage. Specifically, we first show the value of this approach in understanding normative brain development across diverse human environments. We then highlight its application to educational and social policy, explore pitfalls and ethical considerations, and offer practical solutions to conducting strength-based research responsibly. Our paper re-ignites old and recent calls for a strength-based paradigm shift, with a focus on its application to developmental cognitive neuroscience. We also offer a unique perspective from a new generation of early-career researchers engaged in this work, several of whom themselves have grown up in conditions of poverty. Ultimately, we argue that a balanced strength-based scientific approach will be essential to building more effective policies.

A systematic review of positive childhood experiences and adult outcomes: Promotive and protective processes for resilience in the context of childhood adversity

BACKGROUND

Research on positive childhood experiences (PCEs) as counterparts to childhood adversity has surged in the last five years. A systematic review of the additive and interactive effects of childhood adversity and PCEs across adult outcomes is needed that contextualizes the long-term correlates of childhood experiences within a developmental perspective.

OBJECTIVE

The current review synthesizes the empirical evidence for PCEs as resilience factors for a range of adult outcomes.

METHODS

Articles published until May 2023 were systematically identified according to PRISMA Guidelines through PubMed and PsycINFO databases and references of included articles. Then, 131 records were screened, and 58 studies were included.

RESULTS

Higher levels of PCEs were significantly but modestly associated with lower levels of childhood adversity. Higher levels of PCEs were associated with outcomes reflecting mental health, psychosocial functioning, physical health and health behaviors, and psychosocial stress. Most studies found direct, promotive effects of PCEs for more favorable outcomes. Few studies found significant interaction effects between childhood adversity and PCEs on outcomes, suggesting that PCEs may more frequently directly promote positive outcomes rather than moderate the effects of adversity on outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

Individuals' childhood adversity and PCEs are somewhat independent sets of experiences; many individuals experience both, and the presence of one does not preclude the other. PCEs predict more favorable outcomes independent of childhood adversity more often than they interact with and moderate the effects of adversity on outcomes. Although the literature base is steadily growing, more research on PCEs in diverse and international samples is needed.

Resilience to depression: the role of benevolent childhood experiences in a South African sample

Background

Studies elsewhere show that benevolent childhood experiences (BCEs) have protective mental health value. However, this protective value has never been investigated in an African context. Given the need to better understand what might support mental health resilience among African young people, this study explores the relationship between BCEs and depressive symptoms among a South African sample of young adults living in a community dependent on the economically volatile oil and gas industry.

Methods

A sample of young adults in an oil and gas community in South Africa (N = 313, mean age 20.3 years, SD = 1.83, range from 18 to 26; majority Black African) completed self-report questionnaires to assess BCEs and depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory-II). The analysis controlled for socio-demographics and experience of family adversity. Multinomial logistic regressions were used to examine the association of BCEs with depressive symptoms using STATA 17.

Results

The majority (86.4% of the sample) reported all 10 BCEs. Of the 10 BCEs, having at least one good friend was the most reported (94%) compared to 75% of the sample reporting having a predictable home routine, such as regular meals and a regular bedtime. The unadjusted multinomial logistic regression analysis indicated that having at least one good friend, comforting beliefs, and being comfortable with self were associated with lower odds of moderate depression. The adjusted results showed no association between BCEs and the depression of young adults in this sample.

Conclusion

In this South African sample, our results do not show protective associations between BCEs and depression. This could be as a result of the homogeneity in our sample. It is also possible that the BCEs explored could not counteract the effect of chronic risk factors in the lives of the young people in this study context. Further research is needed to understand this complexity.