Breaking the transgenerational cycle of mental health problems through ACE-sensitive parenting interventions

Invasive childhood experiences, or Adverse Childhood Experiences(ACEs), of parents influence their children's development. The link between parental ACEs, parenting problems and child mental health problems can be explained from different disciplines (e.g., heredity, stress sensitivity, subjective experiences of intergenerational transmission, shared environment, attachment). But how can we integrate this knowledge into interventions that break the intergenerational cycle of mental health problems?

This research integrates parents' subjective experiences of how adverse childhood experiences affect their parenting with our knowledge of biological, psychological and social mechanisms. Based on this, a psycho-educational intervention module will be developed and tested that can be used within existing parenting interventions.