Resilience as a Moderator Between Adverse Childhood Events and Health in Motherhood

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of adverse childhood events (ACEs) and motherhood on a weighted linear composite of health status and health harming behavior, while moderating for a measure of resilience. Felitti’s theory of ACEs and Garmezy’s theory of resilience are the theoretical framework for this study. The research questions that are addressed in this study are how ACEs and resilience affect health-related outcomes in women and how motherhood influence health-related outcomes as a function of ACEs when moderated by resilience. A quantitative research design with a convenience sample was used to anonymously survey 205 women (104 mothers, 101 nonmother). The survey included the 10-item ACEs questionnaire, the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale short version, and two 15-item health and health behavior questionnaires. Once data were collected a three-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted using SPSS that showed correlation between negative health outcomes and ACEs, Motherhood and the triple interaction of ACEs, resilience, and motherhood. Women with ACEs had 1.04 points higher health scores than those without ACEs, mothers had 1.38 points higher health scores than nonmothers, mothers with ACEs and high resilience had a negative health score 1.4 points higher than mothers with high resilience and no ACEs. Implications for this study include the use of conclusive statistical data to support programs for family services and women’s outreach programs that could help prevent the cycle of ACEs in families and help mothers understand the role of ACEs and resilience on the impact of becoming a mother