Childhood adversity and adolescent motherhood: A cross-sectional study of trauma, partner age gaps, and parenting in the Dominican Republic

Abstract

Background: Adolescent pregnancy is increasingly understood as closely associated with pre-existing disadvantage, yet critical gaps remain regarding which adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with early childbearing, partner characteristics, and parenting trajectories. Objective: To examine associations among ACEs, partner characteristics, and parenting practices in adolescent versus adult-onset mothers. Participants and setting: We recruited 1019 mothers of children aged 24–48 months from poverty-focused programs in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (November 2024–January 2025), classified as current adolescent mothers (n = 91), former adolescent mothers (n = 316), or adult-onset mothers (n = 598). Methods: Data collected via Audio Computer-Assisted Self-Interview using validated instruments: ACE questionnaire, HITS violence screen, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, and standardized parenting assessments. Analyses included correlations, chi-square tests, t-tests, ANOVA, and regression models. Results: Emotional neglect and physical neglect showed the most consistent associations with younger maternal age at first birth, surviving FDR correction across the 10 ACE indicators (r = −0.11, pFDR = 0.007 and r = −0.09, pFDR = 0.021, respectively). In a simultaneous regression model including all 10 ACE indicators, emotional neglect remained independently associated with earlier childbearing (β = −0.96, p = .014); no other ACE indicators reached significance after accounting for co-occurring adversities. Mothers who started childbearing before 18 had partners who averaged 9.1 years older, compared with 2.5 years for mothers ≥26 (p < .001, ηp2 = 0.089); partners also had lower educational attainment (40.4% primary-only vs 13.0%). ACE scores were independently associated with intimate partner violence and depression after covariate adjustment; maternal age was not. Adult-onset mothers maintained 2.85 times the odds of university education after age adjustment. Former adolescent mothers used less violent discipline than adult-onset mothers (d = −0.22, p < .001), robust to adjustment. Conclusions: The findings support the view that preexisting adversity rather than early childbearing is associated with higher psychosocial risk. Educational inequalities persisted after age adjustment. Former adolescent mothers' lower use of violent discipline is consistent with possible adaptation, though alternative explanations cannot be excluded.