Research on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) has unified the study of interrelated risks and generated insights into the origins of disorder and disease. Ten indicators of child maltreatment and household dysfunction are widely accepted as ACEs, but further progress requires a more systematic approach to conceptualizing and measuring ACEs. Using data from a diverse, low-income sample of women who received home visiting services in Wisconsin ( N = 1,241), this study assessed the prevalence of and interrelations among 10 conventional ACEs and 7 potential ACEs: family financial problems, food insecurity, homelessness, parental absence, parent/sibling death, bullying, and violent crime. Associations between ACEs and two outcomes, perceived stress and smoking, were examined. The factor structure and test-retest reliability of ACEs was also explored. As expected, prevalence rates were high compared to studies of more representative samples. Except for parent/sibling death, all ACEs were intercorrelated and associated at the bivariate level with perceived stress and smoking. Exploratory factor analysis confirmed that conventional ACEs loaded on two factors, child maltreatment and household dysfunction, though a more complex four-factor solution emerged once new ACEs were introduced. All ACEs demonstrated acceptable test-retest reliability. Implications and future directions toward a second generation of ACE research are discussed.

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Objective Research indicates that foster parents often do not receive sufficient training and support to help them meet the demands of caring for foster children with emotional and behavioral disturbances. Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is a clinically efficacious intervention for child externalizing problems, and it also has been shown to mitigate parenting stress and enhance parenting attitudes and behaviors. However, PCIT is seldom available to foster families, and it rarely has been tested under intervention conditions that are generalizable to community-based child welfare service contexts. To address this gap, PCIT was adapted and implemented in a field experiment using 2 novel approaches—group-based training and telephone consultation—both of which have the potential to be integrated into usual care. Method This study analyzes 129 foster-parent-child dyads who were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: (a) waitlist control, (b) brief PCIT, and (c) extended PCIT. Self-report and observational data were gathered at multiple time points up to 14 weeks post baseline. Results Findings from mixed-model, repeated measures analyses indicated that the brief and extended PCIT interventions were associated with a significant decrease in self-reported parenting stress. Results from mixed-effects generalized linear models showed that the interventions also led to significant improvements in observed indicators of positive and negative parenting. The brief course of PCIT was as efficacious as the extended PCIT intervention. Conclusions The findings suggest that usual training and support services can be improved upon by introducing foster parents to experiential, interactive PCIT training.