ABC News: Parents who had childhood trauma MORE LIKELY to have kids with ADHD/emotional problems

July 9, 2018, ABC News: Trauma suffered in childhood echoes across generations, study finds https://abcnews.go.com/Health/trauma-suffered-childhood-echoes-generations-study-finds/story?id=56426090 Trauma in childhood echoes through generations, according to new research that could have implications for thousands of migrant children recently separated from parents at the U.S. border. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles and published today in Pediatrics, finds that traumatic events in childhood increase the risk of mental health and behavioral problems not just for that person but also for their children. “Early-life experiences -- stressful or traumatic ones in particular -- have intergenerational consequences for child behavior and mental health," the lead author, Adam Schickedanz, clinical instructor in pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, told ABC News. "This demonstrates one way in which all of us carry our histories with us, which our study shows has implications for our parenting and our children's health.”… The researchers looked at the effects over a generation when a child grows up in an unstable environment, suffers neglect or has absent parents. "Based on the available evidence, one would expect that the stresses and trauma children are experiencing due to family separation at the border will have intergenerational behavioral health consequences," Schickedanz said…. The severity of a child's behavioral issues was measured through a scale called the behavior problems index. Researchers gave the primary caregivers of children ages 3 to 17 years old a series of questions to assess present problems, including with anxiety, depression, dependency, hyperactivity, and aggression. The study found a link between children with a high rate of behavioral problems and parents who had experienced a greater number of adverse childhood events, ACEs. Parents who growing up suffered four or more adverse events before they were 18 -- including neglect, abuse and household dysfunction -- were more likely to have children with behavioral issues, such as being hyperactive or having problems regulating their emotions, the research found. … While this study focused on the behavioral consequences of traumatic childhood experiences, other research has shown that adverse childhood events affect physical health, increasing the risk of chronic disease and premature mortality later in life.