Pathways from adverse childhood experiences to parenting competence: the roles of cognitive emotional regulation and social support.
5 affiliations
- 1Department of Nursing, Konkuk University Glocal Campus, Chungju-si, South Korea.
- 2College of Nursing and Brain Korea 21 FOUR Project, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea.
- 3College of Nursing and Mo-Im Kim Nursing Research Institute, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea.
- 4School of Nursing, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA.
- 5Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ilsan Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Goyang, South Korea.
Abstract
Background: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been linked to various physical and psychological problems in adulthood, with their effects even carrying over into the next generation through disrupted parenting. To better address the impact of ACEs, identifying the key mediating and moderating factors that influence parenting outcomes is crucial.Objective: This study examined the relationships among ACEs, adaptive and maladaptive cognitive emotional regulation (CER), social support and sense of parenting competence within a sample of Korean mothers of infants.Methods: In this descriptive, cross-sectional study, 290 women raising young children completed an online survey using structured questionnaires. Descriptive statistics, univariate analyses, and moderated mediation analyses were conducted using SPSS and PROCESS Macro.Results: The final sample consisted of 290 first-time mothers (M = 33.02 years, SD = 3.08). Moderated mediation analysis showed that adaptive CER mediated the relationship between ACEs and sense of parenting competence, with this indirect effect being significantly moderated by social support (index of moderated mediation: B = 0.01, p < .01). It was found that mothers with higher levels of social support had stronger positive associations between adaptive CER and sense of parenting competence.Conclusions: These findings suggest that strengthening adaptive CER may be particularly effective for mothers with higher levels of social support. For those with lower levels of social support, the first priority should be enhancing social support to lay the groundwork for emotional regulation interventions.
Related
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BibTeX
@article{lee2026pathways,
title = {{Pathways from adverse childhood experiences to parenting competence: the roles of cognitive emotional regulation and social support.}},
author = {Hyojin Lee and Jeongok Park and Sue Kim and MinKyoung Song and Jung Yeol Han and Kijun Song},
journal = {European journal of psychotraumatology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1080/20008066.2026.2733421},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42845102},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Pathways from adverse childhood experiences to parenting competence: the roles of cognitive emotional regulation and social support.
AU - Hyojin Lee
AU - Jeongok Park
AU - Sue Kim
AU - MinKyoung Song
AU - Jung Yeol Han
AU - Kijun Song
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/08
JO - European journal of psychotraumatology
DO - 10.1080/20008066.2026.2733421
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42845102
AB - Background: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been linked to various physical and psychological problems in adulthood, with their effects even carrying over into the next generation through disrupted parenting. To better address the impact of ACEs, identifying the key mediating and moderating factors that influence parenting outcomes is crucial.Objective: This study examined the relationships among ACEs, adaptive and maladaptive cognitive emotional regulation (CER), social support and sense of parenting competence within a sample of Korean mothers of infants.Methods: In this descriptive, cross-sectional study, 290 women raising young children completed an online survey using structured questionnaires. Descriptive statistics, univariate analyses, and moderated mediation analyses were conducted using SPSS and PROCESS Macro.Results: The final sample consisted of 290 first-time mothers (M = 33.02 years, SD = 3.08). Moderated mediation analysis showed that adaptive CER mediated the relationship between ACEs and sense of parenting competence, with this indirect effect being significantly moderated by social support (index of moderated mediation: B = 0.01, p < .01). It was found that mothers with higher levels of social support had stronger positive associations between adaptive CER and sense of parenting competence.Conclusions: These findings suggest that strengthening adaptive CER may be particularly effective for mothers with higher levels of social support. For those with lower levels of social support, the first priority should be enhancing social support to lay the groundwork for emotional regulation interventions.
SN - 2000-8066
ER -