Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on the Mother-Infant Social-Emotional Well-Being in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Abstract

The “Ghosts in the Nursery” metaphor demonstrates how the impact of parental adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) persist across the lifespan and confers risk to the psychosocial development of subsequent generations. Mothers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) suffer increased vulnerability to ACEs because of complex biological, psychological, economic, social, and environmental risk factors, which, in turn, prevent children from attaining their developmental potential. This article reviews the evidence of maternal ACEs' impact on child social and emotional developmental outcomes in LMICs as well as possible psychological and neurobiological mechanisms for intergenerational transmission of ACEs. Clinical implications of elucidating the association between ACEs and subsequent sequelae on child development highlights the need to screen for maternal ACEs in prenatal and pediatric settings. A main emphasis of this article is to promote child mental health prevention intervention by focusing on addressing maternal ACEs and by helping caregivers to be “Angels in the Nursery.” Angels in the Nursery are characterized by care-receiving experiences that provide the child with a core sense of self-worth and security that can be drawn upon when the child becomes a parent to interrupt the cycle of maltreatment and thus effectively promote child mental health. [ Psychiatr Ann . 2021;51(7):316–321.]