• Jerica M Berge, Allan Tate, Amanda Trofholz, and Alicia Kunin-Batson.
• From University of Minnesota Medical School, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Minneapolis (JMB, ATrofholz); University of Georgia, College of Public Health, Athens (ATate); University of Minnesota Medical School, Department of Pediatrics, Minneapolis (AKB).
• J Am Board Fam Med. 2023 Feb 8; 36 (1): 395039-50.

Background/ObjectivePrior research suggests an association between parental experiencing of 1 or more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and increased risk for overweight/obesity in children. However, the pathways through which parental experiences of ACEs lead to child weight are unclear.MethodsParticipants were parent and child dyads from racially/ethnically diverse and low-income households in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, in 2015. Parents completed an online survey regarding their own adverse experiences in childhood, their height and weight, parenting practices, and mental health. Child height and weight were obtained from electronic medical records. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the extent to which parent mental health and parenting practices mediate associations between parental ACEs and child body mass index (BMI) percentile.ResultsThe parent mental health pathway was statistically significant in explaining the intergenerational transmission of parental ACEs to child weight. Parent ACEs were positively associated with low parent mental health, parent low mental health was correlated with higher parent BMI > 25, and parent overweight was positively related to higher child BMI percentile.ConclusionsStudy findings suggest that intervening on parent low mental health may be a key factor in reducing the intergenerational transmission between parental ACEs and child weight.© Copyright by the American Board of Family Medicine.

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