Adverse Childhood Experiences and Parenting Styles as Predictors of Adult Psychological Distress and Resilience

This study investigates how Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and parenting styles interact to influence adult mental health and resilience.94 U.S. adults completed the ACE questionnaire, Parental Authority Questionnaire (PAQ), Mental Health Inventory (MHI-38), and Resilience Scale (RS-14).Correlational analysis revealed authoritative parenting, experienced by participants from both mothers and fathers, and permissive parenting, experienced from fathers, were associated with lower distress and higher resilience.Regression analysis revealed that the strongest unique predictors of adult distress were participants ACE scores and parental authoritarian scores while the strongest unique predictors of resilience were ACE scores and fathers authoritative parenting scores.These findings indicate that the impact of parenting style on adult mental distress and resilience is dependent on the parent exhibiting the parenting style, ACEs, and age group.