Date of Award

5-11-2025

Date Published

June 2025

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Human Development and Family Science

Advisor(s)

Sara Vasilenko

Keywords

adverse childhood experiences (ACEs);depression;latent class analysis (LCA);parenting;protective factors;time-varying effect modeling (TVEM)

Abstract

Abstract Experiencing adversity in childhood (ACEs) can significantly affect an individual’s health across the lifespan. However, most prior research has relied on a cumulative risk approach, focusing on the association between the total number of ACEs and psychological outcomes. Additionally, limited studies have explored how ACEs influence depression across different developmental stages. Meanwhile, most research focuses on individuals’ health outcomes without considering the profound impact of ACEs on parenting, which can affect the developmental outcomes of future generations. Furthermore, few studies have examined how protective factors at multiple levels (e.g., family, school, and neighborhood) buffer the effects of various ACE combinations on adolescent depression. To address these gaps, this dissertation comprises three research projects that investigate how different ACEs patterns affect individuals’ depression across adolescence and emerging adulthood, and parenting satisfaction and stress, and how multi-level protective factors mitigate the impact of ACEs on adolescent depression. Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) (N = 3,342), Study 1 aimed to identify patterns of ACEs and examine gender differences in the association between different patterns of ACEs and depressive symptoms across adolescence and emerging adulthood. Gender differences were observed in the Parental Alcohol Use and Divorce class, Abuse and Neglect class, and Multiple ACEs class in middle adolescence and emerging adulthood. The aim of Study 2 was to examine how different combinations of maternal and paternal ACEs may affect parenting satisfaction and parenting stress using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health; N = 2,578, 60.4% female). The study found nuanced differences between maternal and paternal ACEs class memberships. Parenting satisfaction differed across ACEs classes for both mothers and fathers, even though some ACEs classes might not differ from the Low ACEs class in the post-hoc tests. ACEs class memberships were not significantly associated with parenting stress. The aim of Study 3 was to examine the association between ACEs class memberships at age 5 with depressive symptoms at age 15, and explored whether protective factors including parental warmth, school connectedness, and neighborhood collective efficacy at age 9 buffered the negative impact of earlier ACEs on adolescent depression. Using data (N = 3,425) from the Future Families and Child Wellbeing Studies (FFCWS), the study found that compared to the Low ACEs class, both the Domestic & Neighborhood Violence, Parental Depression and Material Hardship class and the Abuse, Parental Divorce, Material Hardship and Neighborhood Violence class had higher levels of depressive symptoms. Parental warmth, school connectedness, and neighborhood collective efficacy were not found to moderate the association between ACEs class memberships and adolescent depression. Taken together, this dissertation emphasizes how ACEs can have a far-reaching impact on individuals’ mental health and parenting practices. Through LCA, it offers a deeper understanding of how different ACE patterns shape psychological outcomes over time and how these effects may extend across generations. The dissertation contributes to the field by revealing the importance of considering age, gender, different combinations of ACEs and multi-level protective factors in prevention and intervention programs. Key words: adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), depression, parenting, protective factors, latent class analysis (LCA), time-varying effect modeling (TVEM)

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