Childhood trauma impacts most children in the United States, with exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) like abuse, neglect, or witnessing violence linked to negative outcomes across the lifespan. Early childhood education (ECE) programs, such as therapeutic preschools, that utilize two-generation approaches to services have demonstrated proven benefits for children with trauma exposure; however, less is known about the impact of ACEs on early childhood program engagement and retention. The current study, set in a two-generation therapeutic preschool program, examined 173 pairs of primarily Latinx parents and children to understand in what ways parent and child ACEs, coupled with family contextual risks like homelessness and child welfare involvement, impact program engagement for children with trauma histories. Results indicate that children whose parents had an elevated ACE score (four or more trauma experiences) were more likely to terminate ECE participation early compared to children whose parents had less cumulative trauma. Families with parents and children who both had high ACEs were over six times more likely to terminate program participation early. However, once accounting for early termination, ACEs had minimal impact on ECE engagement. These findings highlight the need for ECE programs to consider the whole family at entry and target early retention efforts towards families with greater cumulative trauma histories.

中文翻译：

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父母不良的童年经历也很重要：多代创伤对拉丁裔儿童参与幼儿教育的影响

童年创伤影响着美国的大多数儿童，他们经历过不良的童年经历（ACE），如虐待、忽视或目睹暴力，这些经历与整个一生的负面结果有关。幼儿教育 (ECE) 计划，例如利用两代人服务方法的治疗学前班，已证明对遭受创伤的儿童有好处；然而，人们对 ACE 对幼儿计划参与度和保留率的影响知之甚少。目前的研究以两代治疗性学前项目为背景，对 173 对主要是拉丁裔的父母和孩子进行了调查，以了解父母和孩子的 ACE 以及无家可归和儿童福利参与等家庭背景风险如何影响儿童的项目参与度有外伤史。结果表明，与父母累积创伤较少的孩子相比，父母 ACE 评分较高（四次或以上创伤经历）的孩子更有可能提前终止 ECE 参与。父母和孩子均具有较高 ACE 的家庭提前终止计划参与的可能性是其六倍以上。然而，一旦考虑到提前终止，ACE 对 ECE 参与度的影响微乎其微。这些发现强调，儿童早教项目需要在入学时考虑整个家庭，并针对有更多累积创伤史的家庭进行早期保留工作。