Adverse Childhood Experiences, Family Functioning, and Resilience in Military Families: A Pattern-Based Approach

Linkages between adverse childhood experiences and long-term consequences in servicemen and servicewomen were examined in relation to family-level resiliency processes predicted to mitigate this link. Using a pattern-based, multi-informant approach, resilience was explored through a systemic lens in relation to family-level processes. Latent family profiles were identified using diverse dimensions of family functioning guided by the circumplex model. Data were collected from parents and their adolescents, age 11 to 18, living in the continental United States (N = 273 military families). Variations in adverse childhood experiences among servicemembers and their partners were related to heterogeneous family functioning typologies (profiles). One adaptive family functioning typology illustrated that a select group of families with higher levels of early adverse experiences evinced adaptive functioning outcomes in multiple domains in adulthood. Implications for examining individual resilience via a family-level process and applications to educational and clinical contexts are discussed in relation to military and nonmilitary families.