ABSTRACT
The intergenerational transmission of childhood trauma has been extensively documented in the literature. However, prevailing research predominantly examines parenting behaviour or mental health and seldom develops a comprehensive pathway model that integrates a multilevel perspective encompassing ‘individual emotion regulation—couple relationship quality’. This approach is essential for understanding how parental childhood trauma influences offspring development through psychological regulation mechanisms and marital relationship. Grounded in social learning theory and attachment theory, the present study seeks to investigate the mediating roles of parental cognitive reappraisal and marital quality between parental childhood trauma and children’s aggression. Utilizing convenience sampling, the study recruited 467 parents of children attending two public kindergartens in Changsha, China. The findings revealed that the mediating effect of parental cognitive reappraisal on the relationship between parental childhood trauma and children’s aggression was not statistically significant. Conversely, the mediating effect of parental marital quality was found to be significant. Furthermore, parental childhood trauma was linked to children’s aggression through the sequential mediation of cognitive reappraisal and marital quality. Therefore, it is imperative for parents and educators to emphasize the development of cognitive reappraisal strategies and marital quality to disrupt the intergenerational transmission of childhood trauma and to prevent and address children’s aggression.