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. 2023 Oct 2;6(10):e2339648.
doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.39648.

Parents' Adverse and Positive Childhood Experiences and Offspring Involvement With the Criminal Legal System

Elizabeth S Barnert  1 , Lindsay M Schlichte  1   2 , Destiny G Tolliver  3 , Jaime La Charite  4 , Christopher Biely  1 , Rebecca Dudovitz  1 , Kathryn Leifheit  1 , Shirley Russ  1 , Narayan Sastry  5 , Cecile Yama  1 , George M Slavich  6 , Adam Schickedanz  1   7
Affiliations

Parents' Adverse and Positive Childhood Experiences and Offspring Involvement With the Criminal Legal System

Elizabeth S Barnert et al. JAMA Netw Open. .

Abstract

Importance: Intergenerational cycles of adversity likely increase one's risk of criminal legal system involvement, yet associations with potential contributors, such as parents' adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and positive childhood experiences (PCEs), have not been explored.

Objective: To investigate the association of parents' ACEs and PCEs with their adult children's involvement in US legal systems, from arrest to conviction.

Design, setting, and participants: The study team analyzed data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), a nationally representative cohort study of families in the US. PSID-2013 survey data were merged with the 2014 PSID Childhood Retrospective Circumstances Study (CRCS), collected May 2014 to January 2015, which asked adults aged 18 to 97 years to retrospectively report on their childhood experiences. Parents and their adult children were linked in the data set. Data were analyzed from October 2022 to September 2023.

Main outcomes and measures: The child arrest outcome was regressed on parents' ACE and PCE scores using logistic regression models. In addition, multinomial logistic regression models were used to assess the associations of parents' ACE and PCE scores with the number of times their child was arrested and convicted.

Results: Of 12 985 eligible individuals, 8072 completed the CRCS. Among CRCS participants, there were 1854 eligible parent-child dyads (ie, parents and their adult children) that formed the analytic sample. The mean (SD) age of offspring at the time of CRCS completion was 38.5 (10.9) years, and 1076 offspring (51.3%) were female. Having 4 or more parental ACEs was associated with 1.91-fold (95% CI, 1.14-3.22) higher adjusted odds of arrest before age 26 and 3.22-fold (95% CI, 1.62-6.40) higher adjusted odds of conviction before age 26 years, compared with children of parents without ACEs. These associations persisted after controlling for parental PCEs.

Conclusions and relevance: In this nationally representative study, children of parents with higher ACEs were at greater risk of arrest during adolescence and young adulthood, even after controlling for parents' PCEs. Addressing and preventing childhood adversity through multigenerational life course approaches may help disrupt intergenerational pathways to the criminal legal system.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Dr Russ reported receiving grants from Well Being Trust Funded to develop New Approaches to Measuring Children’s Well-Being in the State of California outside the submitted work. No other disclosures were reported.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Adult Child Arrests Before Age 26 Years by Parental Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs)
Forest plots show adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for all adult children arrested (A) and adjusted relative risk ratios (RRRs) for those arrested once (B) and those arrested more than once (C). Models were adjusted for adult child age, sex, race, Latino ethnicity, highest level of parental education, and highest level of parental income. aRRR was calculated using coefficients derived from multinomial logistic regression, comparing each outcome with a base outcome of no arrest.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.. Adult Child Convictions Before Age 26 Years by Parental Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs)
Forest plots show adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for all adult children convicted (A) and adjusted relative risk ratios (RRRs) for those convicted once (B) and those convicted more than once (C). Models were adjusted for adult child age, sex, race, Latino ethnicity, highest level of parental education, and highest level of parental income. aRRR was calculated using coefficients derived from multinomial logistic regression, comparing each outcome with a base outcome of no conviction.
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