Background

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) profoundly disrupt preschoolers' attentional regulation development. Different patterns of ACEs may be associated with different attentional regulation outcomes.

Objective

Drawing from developmental systems theory and attachment theory, this study aimed to identify distinct patterns of early ACEs at age three and examined the associations of these patterns with preschoolers' attentional regulation at age five.

Participants and setting

This study used the two waves of longitudinal data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 4457).

Methods

First, this study applied latent class analysis (LCA) across nine indicators of ACEs at age three. Second, class membership was examined for associations with preschoolers' attentional regulation at age five.