ADVERSE CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES REPORTED BY CUSTODIAL GRANDMOTHERS AND THEIR ADOLESCENT GRANDCHILDREN

Abstract

The Risky Family Model postulates that adverse childhood experiences (ACE) are likely to be encountered across generations within custodial grandfamilies which, in turn, may adversely impact their overall well-being. The present study is a pioneering attempt to examine the patterns of ACEs self-reported by custodial grandmothers (CGM) and adolescent grandchildren (AGC) from the same families, and how their total ACE scores correlate with key physical and mental health outcomes. A total of 129 CGM-ACG dyads recruited for a nationwide RCT study completed separately at baseline the 10-item ACE-CDC and 4 items from the ACE-IQ, as well as various standardized measures of physical and emotional well-being. The most frequent ACEs reported by AGC were loss of a parent (60.5%), verbal abuse (58.1%), bullying by peers (46.5%), and living with someone jailed (45.0%). The predominant ACEs for CGM were bullying by peers (48.8%), verbal abuse (48.1%), living with a mentally ill person (34.1%), being touched sexually (29.5%), and loss of parent (29.5%). Only 10.1% of ACG and 15.5% of CGM reported 0 ACEs, whereas 65.1 % of ACG and 59% of CGM reported > 3 ACEs. For ACG, total ACE scores correlated significantly with externalizing (r=.32) and internalizing (r=.30) difficulties, self-esteem (r= -.28), loneliness (r=.27), school problems (r=.24), and physical health (r= -.26). For CGMs, anxiety (r=.23) and depression (r=.19) only were correlated significantly with total ACEs. We conclude that although both CGM and ACG reported alarmingly high levels of ACEs, different patterns and correlates exist between the generations. [Funded by R01AG054571]