The effects of parental adverse childhood experiences on parental allostatic load and the intergenerational transmission to offspring allostatic load

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are potentially traumatic events that occur during childhood. These experiences can have long-lasting effects on an individual’s health: people who have experienced many ACEs have higher chances of developing various disease. The early life stress associated with these ACEs can also dysregulate the body’s physiological processes. This dysregulation can be measured by a score called allostatic load score. Accumulating research shows that the negative health effects of a parent’s ACEs can be passed on to their children. This research aims to understand how parents' ACEs impact their own and their children's allostatic load.