ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Glob. Women’s Health
Sec. Women's Mental Health
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fgwh.2025.1630244
This article is part of the Research TopicMaternal PTSD, Complex Trauma, Post-traumatic Growth and Resiliency across Different CulturesView all 4 articles
The Impact of Maternal Adverse Childhood Experiences on Children's Quality of Life: The Moderating Role of Self-Esteem and the Mediating Role of Maternal Quality of Life
Provisionally accepted
- 1Hallym Polytechnic University, Chuncheon-si, Republic of Korea
- 2Dongnam Health University, suwon-si, Republic of Korea
- 3Changshin University, changwon, Republic of Korea
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This study investigated the impact of maternal adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on their children's overall quality of life (QoL), focusing on the mediating role of maternal QoL and the moderating role of maternal self-esteem. We conducted a secondary analysis using data from the 2018 National Child Life Experience Survey in South Korea, analyzing responses from 930 mothers who reported at least one type of childhood adversity. A descriptive and correlational research design was employed, and statistical analyses were conducted using the PROCESS macro. The findings revealed that higher levels of maternal ACEs were significantly associated with lower QoL in both mothers and their children. Maternal QoL partially mediated this relationship. Additionally, maternal self-esteem moderated the negative effects of maternal ACEs on children's QoL, serving as a protective factor. These results emphasize the critical role of maternal psychological health in mitigating the intergenerational transmission of adversity. The findings support the urgent need for interventions aimed at strengthening maternal self-esteem and emotional well-being. Public health and nursing strategies that enhance mental health services and provide family-based support could significantly improve long-term outcomes for children in families affected by early maternal trauma.
Keywords: maternal, Adverse childhood experiences, Quality of Life, self esteem, intergenerational transmission
Received: 17 May 2025; Accepted: 30 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Cho, Heo, Ryoo and Kim. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Eunjeong Cho, foryou0913@cau.ac.kr
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