Profiles of adverse childhood experiences and family processes during early childhood

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) such as maltreatment, parent substance abuse or untreated mental illness affect early development. Other family processes, such as parenting and household chaos, are also influential and may either accentuate or attenuate risks imposed by ACEs. Thus, it is important to examine how ACEs and other family processes, as well as socioeconomic position (SEP), may co-occur differently for various groups of young children. In a sample of 265 children (average age 4.17 years) the current study examines latent profiles of ACEs, family functioning, household chaos, overreactive/harsh parenting, lax/permissive parenting, household income, and parent education. Four distinct profiles emerged: Moderate (22%), High SEP (44%), High Negative Parenting and Low Education (8%), and High ACEs (26%). Detecting these types of differences in how early experiences co-occur is paramount to deepening our understanding of complex influences on development and to effectively informing early interventions to support families with young children.