Adverse Childhood Experiences, Women's Reproductive Health Trajectories and Healthy Ageing Outcomes: An Intergenerational Life-Course Perspective

Abstract

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) represent a global public health crisis with far-reaching consequences that extend well beyond childhood. This narrative review synthesises empirical evidence and theoretical frameworks to examine the pathways through which ACEs shape women's reproductive health trajectories and subsequent healthy ageing outcomes within an intergenerational life-course perspective. Drawing on biopsychosocial models, allostatic load theory, and intergenerational trauma frameworks, we explore how childhood exposure to abuse, neglect, household dysfunction, and structural adversities embedded in socioeconomic deprivation particularly in sub-Saharan African contexts including Nigeria programme biological, psychological, and social systems in ways that dysregulate reproductive function, undermine maternal health, and predispose women to accelerated biological ageing and non-communicable disease burden. The review integrates evidence on gender-based violence, psychosocial well-being, mental health, social support systems, family background, and healthcare access as mediating and moderating influences across the life course. Findings highlight that ACEs do not operate in isolation; rather, they intersect with structural inequalities, cultural norms, healthcare expenditure constraints, and intergenerational poverty to produce cumulative disadvantage. Implications for social work practice, health policy, geriatric care, and intergenerational intervention are discussed. We argue that centering women's ACE histories in reproductive and ageing health policy is essential to achieving health equity and sustainable development outcomes