SynthesisPsychological medicine2022
Mediators and moderators in the relationship between maternal childhood adversity and children's emotional and behavioural development: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Psychological medicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers.
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Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed.
- Adverse Childhood Experiences, Pregnancy and Postpartum Depressive Symptoms, and Child Socioemotional Problems Over the First Three Years of Life.Child maltreatment · 2026Article
- Resilience in the early postpartum period: Buffering the impact of maternal ACEs on infant socioemotional development.Infant mental health journal · 2026Article
- Associations between Maternal Adverse Childhood Experiences, Stressful Life Events, and Child Behavioral Outcomes in Racially/Ethnically Diverse Families.Journal of immigrant and minority health · 2026Article
- Attachment Theory: Novel Clinical and Molecular Insights.Biomolecules · 2026Review
- Maternal adverse childhood experiences and prenatal stress: Intergenerational transmission and offspring mental health in the ECHO Cohort.Psychological medicine · 2026Article
- Major risk factors of obesity in China and recommendations for future prevention and control efforts: a systematic review and meta-analysis.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2026Article
- Intergenerational transmission of maternal childhood maltreatment, prenatal substance exposure, and internalizing and externalizing symptoms in early adolescence at age 12.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2026Article
- Mother infant cortisol levels and maternal childhood adversity.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Socioeconomic and maternal mental health factors associated with the parenting and development of children in an early childhood promotion program: analysis via structural equation modeling.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Association of early life adversity with internalizing and externalizing behavior across 3 low- and middle-income countries.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- The influence of early childhood education and care on the relation between early-life social adversity and children's mental health in the environmental influences for Child Health Outcomes Program.Development and psychopathology · 2025Observational
- Longitudinal Prediction of Adolescent Depression from Environmental and Polygenic Risk Scores.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- Intergenerational association of adverse childhood experiences and perinatal mental health in adult female offspring: evidence from the longitudinal grandmothers, mothers, and their Children's health study in China.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2025Article
- Maternal adverse childhood experiences were associated with early screen exposure and prolonged daily screen time in preschool children.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis of risk factors for childhood obesity in China and future intervention strategies.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2025Article
- Pathways of Intergenerational Risk: Examining the Association Between Maternal Adverse Childhood Experiences and Child Socio-Emotional and Behavioral Concerns at 8 Years of Age.Child maltreatment · 2025Article
- Relationship of maternal childhood maltreatment and children's emotional-behavioral problems: parental reflection functioning and social support's role.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- Maternal child maltreatment and trajectories of offspring behavioural and emotional difficulties from age 4 to 7 years - results from a prospective birth cohort study.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2025Article
- Examining the Potential Mediating Role of Maternal Mental Health in the Association Between Socioeconomic Deprivation and Child Development Outcomes.Maternal and child health journal · 2025Article
- You are a Mirror of My Childhood: Pathways Through Family Dyadic Interactions and Gender Preference in the Intergenerational Association of ODD Symptoms.Research on child and adolescent psychopathology · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
19 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Maternal experiences of childhood adversity can increase the risk of emotional and behavioural problems in their children. This systematic review and meta-analysis provide the first narrative and quantitative synthesis of the mediators and moderators involved in the link between maternal childhood adversity and children's emotional and behavioural development. We searched EMBASE, PsycINFO, Medline, Cochrane Library, grey literature and reference lists. Studies published up to February 2021 were included if they explored mediators or moderators between maternal childhood adversity and their children's emotional and behavioural development. Data were synthesised narratively and quantitatively by meta-analytic approaches. The search yielded 781 articles, with 74 full-text articles reviewed, and 41 studies meeting inclusion criteria. Maternal mental health was a significant individual-level mediator, while child traumatic experiences and insecure maternal-child attachment were consistent family-level mediators. However, the evidence for community-level mediators was limited. A meta-analysis of nine single-mediating analyses from five studies indicated three mediating pathways: maternal depression, negative parenting practices and maternal insecure attachment, with pooled indirect standardised effects of 0.10 [95% CI (0.03-0.17)), 0.01 (95% CI (-0.02 to 0.04)] and 0.07 [95% CI (0.01-0.12)], respectively. Research studies on moderators were few and identified some individual-level factors, such as child sex (e.g. the mediating role of parenting practices being only significant in girls), biological factors (e.g. maternal cortisol level) and genetic factors (e.g. child's serotonin-transporter genotype). In conclusion, maternal depression and maternal insecure attachment are two established mediating pathways that can explain the link between maternal childhood adversity and their children's emotional and behavioural development and offer opportunities for intervention.
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