Published December 2020

This report estimates the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) on children born to teen mothers in New Zealand, and the extent to which these factors are correlated with school readiness outcomes. ACEs are experienced by both the child and mother and include exposure to maltreatment, witnessing violence, living with household members with mental illness, those who abuse substances, have a history of incarceration, or have experienced parental divorce. In this study, we calculate adjusted associations between ACEs and school readiness indicators using linear regression analysis that controls for family income, neighbourhood deprivation at time of pregnancy, maternal education, child’s ethnicity, and maternal cohabiting status at birth. One of the key findings of the report was that ACEs are more common in children of teen mothers compared to children of non-teen mothers. In children born to teen mothers, 42.9% had two or more ACEs at 54 months compared to 16.4% with two or more ACEs at 54 months in children born to non-teen mothers. We find that at all levels of ACE exposure, children born to teen mothers have less favourable performance on school readiness examinations. Our results suggest that poor school outcomes for the children of teen mothers are not purely due to ACE exposure, and that this may justify children of teen mothers receiving additional support to increase their school readiness even if their observed ACE counts are low. (Executive summary). See also the earlier report on this topic (#6222). Record #7098