ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION

Adverse Childhood Experiences in Early Childhood and Behavior Problems in Middle Childhood and Adolescence among Poor Black Children in Single-Mother Families: Nonresident Fathers’ Involvement, Mothers’ Parenting Stress, Co-parenting and Perceptions of Neighborhood Social Cohesion

by

Jennifer Arianna RayDoctor of Philosophy in Social Welfare University of California, Los Angeles, 2023 Professor Aurora P. Jackson, Chair

This three-paper dissertation aims to examine the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and child behavior problems over time among socioeconomically disadvantaged Black families. The first paper tests a model that links nonresident fathers’ involvement, single mothers’ parenting stress, and ACEs in early childhood to behavior problems in middle childhood and adolescence. The second paper builds upon this model and explores the relationships between and among neighborhood social cohesion, ACEs, and parenting stress in early childhood and child behavioral outcomes in middle childhood and adolescence. The third paper then investigates the roles of nonresident fathers’ social support networks, the father-mother co-parenting relationship, and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in early childhood on child behavioral outcomes in middle childhood and adolescence. These papers fill an important gap in current knowledge and the existing literature by longitudinally examining complex contributing and protective factors for ACEs and child behavior problems in poor Black families. This dissertation concludes with a discussion of the findings of each of the three papers and implications and recommendations for future research.